A Bittersweet Elegy
by Poppy2
Summary: He thought she was dead, engulfed by the hellish flames that came to lay claim to his sanity soon after. But through all the lies and deceit, who exactly should she truly fear? BKK
1. Prologue: Never Again

Mmm...yeah. I had different author's notes before that were getting onmy nerves so I changed them. Anyway, this is my first Rurouni Kenshin fic and I am praying that I get the characterization right. It's so hard to start writing about a new series when you've been doing a different one for so long. Hope you enjoy and this is a DARK themed fic. Heh heh, yeah.

THIS IS A MAJOR BATTOUSAI FIC (eventually)

Summary: With the advancement of a dangerous corruption in the government, Kenshin is forced into reincarnating his alter ego in order to save the government he once killed for. However, corrupt citizens within the Meiji have another plan for Kenshin that could cause him his sanity and the lives of his loved ones. It's a story about love, honor, and loyalty, but more than anything it's a story about indomitable hate. Plus an either Kaoru/Kenshin coupling or Kaoru/Battousai. Which will it be? (if you really want to know you have to read)

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of its original ploys.

**A Bittersweet Elegy**

**Prologue: Never Again**

_"Warnings unheeded often leave misery in their wake."_

He twirled the receipt nervously between his fingers twitching the item from side to side in an anxious display of uncertainty. He hoped she liked it. There had been a point when he knew for sure she adored and cherished the gift, but now it was different. Now it was for real. This time he knew undoubtedly what the precious symbol meant. This time he intended it to have that meaning. This time he wondered if she would accept it. The shopkeep had told him to return for the item the next day so that he could have a chance to size it accurately and prepare it properly for the rurouni. Kenshin had agreed without another word only risking a stray glance back to the source of his newfound worry. He would wait for it, he wanted it to be perfect for her. She deserved it to be perfect.

He sighed as the short paper crinkled in his hand as he creased it and tucked it into the fold of his haori. What would he do if she denied him? The thought stung in his mind and he lifted an arm to stroke his fingers listlessly through the red mats of his hair. He'd already thought that far ahead. It wasn't a matter of what he would do, but a weight of his conscience about what he had to do. The seasoned swordsman sighed again as a shoulder pushed past him through the street pulling his hand from his hair with a slight tug. He just prayed it never came down to that.

* * *

Another night. Another letter. Another boding torrent of unease. He stared at the white parcel situated neatly on the top of his futon with a daunting gaze. This rose the number to fourteen. Fourteen requests, and, so far, thirteen denials soon to be fourteen if this new letter proved to be as tiring as the last. He speculated the note carefully noting the red, wax seal stamped with the Meiji symbol on the crease of the paper. It seemed like a simple letter from the government much like the many preceding ones he had acquired from Yamagata in the past year or so. But there was one easily overlooked detail that induced his suspicions...

Kaoru had never mentioned getting a visit from an officer or a delivery service person for nearly three weeks. Kaoru always informed him of such visits.

Always.

A muscle near his eye twitched as he continued to stare heatedly at the parcel before setting himself on the floor and extracting the menacing item from his sheets. The paper was thick and weighted in his hand as he examined it meticulously before finally breaking the seal and roaming the expanse of characters on the sheet. A deep frown creased his brow as he read.

_Himura,_

_Your presence and assistance are vitally needed toward the government in order to insure the safety of the people and the Meiji era. We cordially request your presence at the noon meeting tomorrow at the Tokyo Capital Building. Gv. Yamagata will be there to escort you among the company of some of the most powerful politicians of the Meiji government. You have already been informed of our need for you. We highly advise you to attend this event. It's imperative, Himura._

There was no signature. It didn't need one. He knew already who it was from and what the aforementioned party wanted of him. The question was: would he give into their requests and revert back to being a chained and controlled dog held at a tight leash and snapping at anything his captor's fancy didn't catch. No. Never again.

He'd die first.

Swiftly, the paper was crumpled within his hands and moved over the reach of his candle's flame scorching and burning the mass until it sifted to ash and fluttered from the man's delicate hand to dance in the patterns of the wind entering the room.

Never again.

His crystal gaze watched the gray movement of ash fade to the floor as a new breeze pressed against his back from the same direction the first had travelled. Slowly, he regained his feet and padded to the door of his room and widened the exit before silently slipping out and making his way along the excess route of the house mindful to not make any noise incase he disturbed the sleep of one of his companions.

A sudden warmth hit his side to quarrel the chilly drift of the slumbering night causing him to turn toward its source. A candle was still lit within Kaoru's room, but the soft, even sound of her breathing met his keen ears through the crack in her door. He glanced about himself as though someone were watching before quietly entering the room and striding to the girl's unconscious side. Although she was not dressed in her loose sleeping attire, she still lay atop her futon curled into herself to shield her body from the incoming cold, one hand held across her neck and shoulder under her chin while the other splayed in front of her holding her writing devise absently between the pages of her disregarded journal.

Kenshin eyed the journal warily briefly lapsing from thought to thought about the abilities a woman's journal could have. Journals had the power to drive people insane when read unwarranted, especially those written by the hands of women. Then again, he'd never known Kaoru kept a journal. He snorted shortly at his own idle thoughts before moving forward once more to crouch beside her, flinching when the boards beneath him creaked ever so slightly with his added weight.

Reaching out one hand, he carefully moved the book away and slid her utensil simply from her small fingers. He heard her groan softly as she retracted her hand back into her body and released a slight quiver into her chin. A sullen smile met his lips as he watched her sleep, pulling her bedding's blanket up to her chin and tucking the sides slightly into her figure for warmth. Her quivering ceased almost instantly as she melted into the added weight, snuggling into its new comfort. He smiled again running a finger gently across the contour of her cheek to brush a cascade of ebony from her face and tuck it safely behind her ear. The ends of her mouth twitched slightly as the girl quietly sighed in her sleep. Quickly, Kenshin extinguished the candle and made his way silently out of the room and back onto his path toward the entrance of Kaoru's house.

Once he was alone in the street about a block from the Kamiya residence he stopped his trek and turned to the barren lane, a cautious glare situated calmly on his features as he fiddled his thumb on the lacings of his sword.

"What is it, Saitoh?" he said to the silence of the street glancing about for the first sign of his pursuer.

"Took you long enough," a deeper, sarcastic voice called nonchalantly to his left.

Kenshin instantly turned his gaze upon the dubbed officer, watching every move the man made from his position against the wall of the alley, a half-smoked cigarette clutched between two fingers as the older man took another drag of his addiction. The after smoke billowed from the man's mouth a moment later as Saito exhaled and grinned at the former hitokiri.

"What do you want, Saito?" Kenshin repeated not finding anything about the situation amusing even in the least.

The older man took another quick drag of his smoke before flicking the butt to the side and pushing himself away from the wall to stand upright. "It's not about what I want, not in the least."

Kenshin deepened his glare.

This caused a satisfied grin from his opposition, his golden eyes twinkling like hell in the dull illumination of the street lamps. "It's not really about what the government wants either. They have no power over it." He paused a moment and closed his eyes, crossing his uniformed arms across his chest almost defiantly. "You need to make a choice Battousai..."

"I told you to never call me that," Kenshin quickly retorted, becoming more unsettled by the minute.

Saito nodded sardonically. "Of course. I apologize, I almost forgot... but you should really become more acquainted with the name once more before the end of tomorrow. You'll be hearing it as your daily addressment."

Violet eyes averted themselves to the side settling to look at a decorated pole standing there instead. "I've already informed you all, you and the government, that I refuse to return no matter what the principle is they give me. I've given that life up."

Mibu's wolf released an interested grunt, opening his eyes to meet his fellow swordsman's once again. Amber met gray, a war of similar yet opposite forces.

"You do realize they're desperate to have you? Almost insane with this desperation you've caused them? You realize that, right?"

Kenshin made no move to speak, just continued watching the taller man through slowly slitting eyes.

"You realize that the Meiji are not strong enough to defend against this new up rise, don't you?" His voice remained eerily calm and detached as he continued. "They're utterly weak against the hoards of samurai and professionless fighters advancing on them wanting some kind of retribution. The government hardly even realizes that their opposition is really the corruption amongst themselves. You realize that they're practically condemned without your help?"

"I never said I wouldn't help them. I just refuse to act as they wish me to; I refuse." Himura Kenshin sighed deeply. "The revolt is organized, once the government finds its core, the entire organization can be brought down easily. They have no real use for me."

"But..."

"Never again, Saito." Kenshin bit out forcefully pressing his eyes shut for the moment. "Not for this cause." He lifted his gaze back to the wolf meeting the deadly man's carefully controlled stare.

"They'll condemn you. Just like you would them. You're fully aware I'm sure." Amber eyes flickered briefly watching the younger man closely.

But his eyes failed to hold those of his brief companion, failed to gauge whatever emotion may have lurked or dwelled deep in those luminate, emotional eyes being held stagnant for a moment's sake.

With a shrug, the tall man turned and began down the alley away from Kenshin briefly waving a hand behind him and calling back to the red haired rurouni, "Alright. Do as you will. Just remember that you can't win here. You won't be able to keep it all, Battousai... They won't let you."

And then he was gone in the hush of the alley's shadow away from sight and sound.

Kenshin continued to watch where he'd disappeared absently reminiscing vaguely about their conversation. Mindfully, he pressed a hand against his chest and felt the slight crinkling of his receipt. He thought about Saito's last words and he clutched the indention tighter. Somehow, he knew the other man was right. Somehow... it made him very nervous.

* * *

Next update:

Chapter 1: Never Say Never

(A/N) Heh heh, hope that was ok. The next chapter's pretty long so if you like the scenarios being built so far I'm sure you'll love having a first chapter that's around 4500 words. The others of you are probably like "Oh my god no". Anyway, please review. It's the only thing you can do to assure me that anyone is interested in my fic. PLEASE review. nearly cries

Slight teaser: Something very interesting happens to Kaoru in the next chapter that changes the entire group, particularly Kenshin. Is it good? or is it devastatingly bad? To find out, look for the next update!!


	2. Chapter 1: Never Say Never

(A/N) Hmmm.. just my luck that I try to post the first part of my story right before I have a total break down . Anyway, this is a pretty long chapter and I hope you like it. I also hope no one kills me, but hey, what's an author to do? I also changed the name from "Bittersweet" to "A Bittersweet Elegy". So read, enjoy, and REVIEW!! Reviews are what makes the world go round... in fanfics anyway. I'm not very good at author's notes as you can tell.

Disclaimer: Are these really necessary? I doubt anyone actually thinks I own RK, but I don't all the same.

**A Bittersweet Elegy**

**Chapter 1: Never Say Never**

_"I was a fool to believe--_

_It all ends today... for today's the day that dreaming ends..."_

_-Moulin Rouge_

Kaoru was sick with a fever. Megumi's orders had been to give her a few days rest before allowing her to roam about as she usually did in her puerile yet assertive demeanor edged with a proud sense of duty. Authority, she reasoned, only caused people to kill themselves faster and added to the strain of one's physical abilities. Kenshin ran through the list of things the female doctor had instructed him upon doing to ensure Kaoru's swift recovery while carefully noting to himself which tasks he had and hadn't accomplished. He sighed to himself. The poor girl had looked so distraught at Megumi's orders, her already fevered cheeks puffing in an indignant scowl as she tried to protest by standing only to find herself succumb to a wave of nausea and collapse back upon her pallet.

He shook his head remembering how Megumi had taunted her about the mishap only making Kaoru more determined to prove she was of a fully functioning status. That had ended rather badly too. Once the fox had left, all returned to how life at the Kamiya dojo usually progressed... except that the namesake was ill and unable to accomplish her chores thus leaving her only willing guest to do them in her stead. Sano had left the moment breakfast was finished before any tasks could be given to him reasoning that he had a few friends he needed to check up on. Then Yahiko...

Well Yahiko had downright laughed when Kenshin asked if he would help with the laundry.

"Like I would touch busu's underwear," Yahiko taunted before heading to the dojo.

Kenshin stared inquiringly at the boy's retreating figure before turning to his basin and staring at the contents mildly. "Kaoru never lets me touch her underwear," he said softly to himself in surprise, a slow blush reaching his ears deftly before glancing back toward the dojo as the sound of Yahiko's practice swings met his waiting ears.

He shrugged lightly to himself before setting to his task, kneeling carefully by the tub and tugging at his sleeves. About midway through, he heard Yahiko cease his swings, the light swish of the sword being replaced by the dull thudding of quick, heavy footsteps as the young man jogged back and forth inside the dojo. A quiet smile graced the rurouni's features as he listened to the patter of the other's steps slow and then race before slowing again as he changed directions. So the youth was cleaning without being instructed to do so? Good for him. His hard earned discipline was showing.

A few more minutes passed before the footfalls stopped all together and moments later the door to the dojo slid open with a click. Kenshin turned from his scrubbing and met the young man's eyes before slowly nodding his consent and gratitude and turned back to his work.

Yahiko trotted down the steps and into the courtyard swiftly turning and waving a goodbye to Kenshin before he could be intercepted for another chore.

"Tsubame asked me to help bus tables again today at the Akebeko so I'm going over there!" he yelled over his shoulder as he pushed through the property gates and rounded the corner. "I'll be back after dinner!" And with that he was gone.

Kenshin watched him leave waiting until the suds at his arms sputtered a bit to release a deep, gutteral sigh. Life.

With the last of the washings hung to dry and the basin's water emptied, the red haired rurouni made his way toward the house entering the corridor that lead to the residents' rooms. He stopped for a quiet moment outside Kaoru's room listening to her soft exhales cautiously before confirming to himself that she was indeed asleep and safe before continuing in toward the kitchen. Looking about momentarily, he grabbed a pan and set it over the stove adding different spices and oils he would need to cook the meal. He looked about himself again trying to remember what it was that slipped from his memory. He stopped and thought a moment before nearly crashing to the ground in clear reverance.

Tofu.

He needed to go get the tofu.

Clasping a hand to his temples, he attempted to releave a bit of the stress he felt accumulating upon him before running the palm over his face and down his neck to rest calmly above his heart. A slight crinkle alerted him as his hand's weight ruffled something in his haori. He acknowledged it silently without taking it out making a mental note to pick up the item before he purchased tofu.

Today hadn't turned out as he'd planned.

He would pick up the item, but he would still wait until she was healthier to give it to her. However, he sighed, waiting sucked.

Absently, he fetched his money from the counter and glanced at the stove debating on whether to light it so the the fire would be hot by the time he returned, or wait so that the spices already left in the pan didn't over cook. He opted for the latter turning with a shrug to close the kitchen door behind him as he left the Kamiya house in search of tofu. Kaoru would be alright alone for an hour.

Kenshin sighed to himself for the up-tenth time that day. Food. Was. Expensive... especially when you helped provide for two fully grown men and a quickly maturing preteen with an appetite to rival the men's. At least one of the men anyway. Kaoru had indeed put herself in a financial blunder by accepting them into her household and placing them under her care. He wouldn't complain, even when she cooked, but the strain was unfair for the young woman and it came as no surprise to him that she had become ill as of late. Perhaps he should undergo a search for a reasonable job around the area. One with hours that would allow him to bring in an income while also contributing to the housework at the Kamiya residency. It would alleviate some of the stress placed on Kaoru-dono and he wouldn't feel nearly as much like a freeloader if he were helping to provide. Besides, if his plans succeeded as he hoped they would, he should by all means earn some sort of income.

But, then again, what kind of job could he do? All his real skills laid in the speed and agility of his feet and hands, characteristics that made him into the master swordsman people considered him today. Sooo... what could he do with that? Most men his age already had a profitable profession as a carpenter, farmer, blacksmith, or in another trade. He wasn't a terrible farmer, but there wasn't anything to farm in Tokyo and he would not be able to manage travelling long distances each day to work for a few hours.

His long fingers fiddled with the latch of the small, velvet box he clutched in his hand absently as he walked, the clamour of the crowd brushing around him in the street hardly affecting his state of mind as he continued on slowly.

Maybe he could get a job at the Akebeko like Yahiko occassionally did. He could bus tables or help in the kitchen. Tae's business was extremely fruitful and he was sure she wouldn't mind the extra help. However, Yahiko might think he was moving in on his financial stockade since the kid already asserted an inarticulated claim on the restraurant because of Tsubame.

Saitoh could probably get him a job with the police. He chuckled softly to himself as he tossed the tofu a bit in its pail. Oh yeah, Saitoh could get him a job alright, preferably one where the older man would have authoritative power over the former hitokiri. He would just love that now wouldn't he? Actually, he could probably get a job with the police just by going to the station and asking politely. Saitoh would still have ranking power over him though, and the more he thought about it the more he realized how much he would resent a profession in law.

A short woman ran forcefully into his shoulder knocking him successfully from his reverie as she scuttled quickly through the crowd glancing back behind her several times despite her hurry. Kenshin raised a curious eyebrow at the woman watching her slight form become hidden among the masses. Then he was struck again as he stood unmoving on the shoulder of the street, this time the offender taking the shape of a mess of brown hair and a boy's disshevelled robes.

Strange. He moved himself farther into the awning of local stores as he watched the crowd with inquiring, crystal eyes full of interest. Sure enough, soon another straggler pushed themselves up through the crowd only moments later. Another woman, younger than the first. A terrified expression haunted her midlife features as she drove past the clutters of people only stopping to take momentary glances behind her. He turned expectant eyes in the direction from which they came surveying the area only to find nothing out of place. The sky smoked itself lightly in greying hues slowly darkening as shallower clouds passed lightly over the top of the buildings. Rain?

Kenshin shook his head lightly, his thick bangs slapping harmlessly against the side of his face. Rain did not cause people to act as hastily as they were, and if a thunderstorm were approaching he was sure the masses would have thinned considerably by now. Glancing back to the street he found the crowd's turmoil had grown considerably during his time spent pondering. A thin stream of people began to trickle by against the natural current of the populace pushing fiercely to get by. An approaching thunderstorm became a more plausible explanation to the rurouni as he adjusted his hand on the tofu and clutched the box in this left hand possesively. Then with a deep breath he forged his way back amongst the slowly thinning crowd mindful to avoid those who came pushing their way through frantically.

His dodging soon became a greater chore as he attempted to balance the tofu and keep himself from becoming tackled all at once. Even though he managed for awhile, his efforts slowly ceased to make progress and he was pushed roughly into the side of a building causing him to nearly drop his tofu. He stood pressed against the wall behind him watching as the filed line of frantic people nearly doubled in front of his eyes. People he had previously been walking behind came back into view following the others in an escape route from some mysterious antagonist. Then he heard it.

"Fire!"

His head snapped towards the voice of a young boy no older than Yahiko as his violet eyes examined his horrified visage and gaping mouth as the child continued to holler the single word for all to hear. Then the masses who had been ignorant to the distress of the situation caught on just as more people raced back through the crowd in the opposite direction. Mayhem soon ensued.

A new wave of panic filled the street as a cry of "Fire!" was screamed by men and women alike. Children cried and mothers swept them into their arms in frantic alarm, their husbands quickly aiding them and leading them away. The sky had grown warily dark, Kenshin noticed as questionably low, black clouds flitted above the city. Smoke.

Without another thought, he dashed against the new current of people heading in the direction the above smoke lifted from. His feet pounded against the dirt below as he jogged mindfully still attempting to preserve the tofu he carried. There was a chance he could help if someone's home had caught aflame and by all means he would give his services to anyone in need.

The faint drum of a distant scream reached his ear as his pace quickened instinctually. The back of his mind began to nag painfully at him as he slowly realized that he was following an indirect route back toward the Kamiya dojo. Then he abruptly stopped, the pounding of his feet being replaced immediately by the pounding in his head. He had reached the edge of the sakura grove leading to Kaoru's home, a place once bristling with life and beauty now fallen dead in an array of drifting blackness and stillness.

The tofu splashed loudly as it was dropped, but he was gone before he could hear it as he lunged forward at his utmost speed leaving his feet to rarely hit the ground in his monumental stride. His head screamed and his chest tightened painfully as the gates came into view. He had left Kaoru in the house. He had left a highly ill and feverish Kaoru alone in her room when she was hardly capable of standing. He cursed himself for his carelessness.

Hearing his approach, two armed officers quickly blocked his way as he neared the gates, swords drawn as they heeded him a fair warning. Other policemen were currently racing about as well, some carrying buckets of water and some trying other methods to squelch the fire. He heard a small crowd beginning to assemble behind him as the fire grew rapidly despite the officers' attemtps to extinguish it. The red haired rurouni's mouth gaped as he slowly watched the inferno taking small steps towards the officers until the point of one of their swords rested against the flesh above his jugular.

"Move back sir," the policeman demanded authoritatively. "We have a situation to deal with and we don't need civilians to involve themselves."

"But..." Kenshin began frantically moving to the side in order to advance and avoid the sword pointed menacingly at his throat.

"We said move back sir," the other officer angrily repeated thrusting his shoulder into the shorter man's chest and sprawling him haphazardly unto the ground.

Quickly, and to the amazement of the ever growing crowd, Kenshin quickly regained his feet shooting forward instantly only to be held back by the officers who immobilized his arms.

"Sir!" the first growled threateningly.

"Where's Kaoru-dono!" he burst frantically pushing heavily against his restraints.

"Sir!" the men shouted again pushing him back simultaneously. "Stay back!"

When the afformentioned made a move to once again rush forward, the first officer quickly swung his fist holding the hilt of his sword. The hard metal contacted strongly against the side of his target's mouth splitting the sensitive skindown to the chin. In his daze, Kenshin hardly even felt the blow.

"Now stay back!" the man bellowed angrily.

"But Kaoru-dono..."

"We have the situation under control," the second retorted flippantly as his partner sheathed his sword.

Kenshin's eyes alighted as he watched the blaze rage above the treetops roaring in ghastly, orange tongues that licked at the sky. His blood boiled in rage as he moved to proceed forward once more not in the least bit surprised when a stray fist sought the side of his face yet never met its mark. He side stepped briskly as the officer lunged for him trying to subdue him once more. Pointedly, he dodged the onslaught of assaults thrown his way with a hurried finesse as the policeman's partner came to help. He shirked quickly beneath an uncalculated strike taking the offered opening to duck behind the officers.

He didn't bother to straighten his form as he tripped closer to the gates just as a new body contacted with his own tackling him to the ground.

"We can't allow you to go any further, sir," a new, frenetic voice called closely into his ear above the racket of hollers made by the other policemen and the roar of the blazing fire.

"But Kaoru-dono," Kenshin hastily replied, his voice sounding ragged and wild in his own ears as he tried to pull himself from the weight on his back. "Where is she?"

Before he could succeed, two new figures pounced upon his struggling person holding him down effectively as he clawed at the ground with broken fingernails. His behavior was mad, but, then again, his sanity was slowly slipping in his haze of panic.

"Sir," the man who had jumped him quickly said as the rurouni fought to stand despite the pressing weight issued atop his back. "Calm down, or we'll have you arrested." His voice quivered despite his attempt to imply authority as his hostage continued to fret beneath him. "We can't allow you to pass or..."

The air shattered cutting the man from his speech instantly as the roar of the fire was deafened by a loud, rattling scream hailing from within the hellish inferno. All four men tensed in unison staring at the quickly dilapitating building engulfed in flames. Kenshin bolted, his shift throwing two men off as the third clung insistently to his haori. She was still inside, he thought to himself as he shoved roughly at the policeman hanging onto his coat.

"SIR!"

The other two quickly realized what was happening and rushed to help the officer just as the man whose hair flamed with the same life as the blazing fire's directed a swift blow to their comrade's neck with his elbow. One latched onto his thin, left arm pulling him back hazardously as the other drew closer at a cautious rate.

But the screams had not stopped as they assaulted the former hitokiri's senses only stopping in short, flagrant intervals to renew themselves. Common sense having been discarded, he settled into instinct as those hysterical shrieks echoed emphatically in his ears. The approaching officer began to draw his sword, but before he could, Kenshin's was unsheathed in an arc slashing the man at his side instantly and rendering him unconscious. Tactically, the other made to accomplish a low lunge as his crystal eyed opponent mirrored his stance only to sidestep at the last moment and continue with his attack.

Steel met flesh in a gruesome match noted with a dull crack as the blade continued on until it met spinal bone killing the man on the spot. Kenshin had miscalculated repulsively. Sakabatou's were not meant to be used for low lunges. He'd fogotten completely until he'd felt the resistance of his blade pillaging through soft flesh as the man's body slumped to the ground in a dead heap.

His hand trembled immensely as it held his sword, his fingers toying with the braids that wove about the hilt as he stared jaded down at the broken body beneath him. The sound of angry shouts and mad footsteps assaulted him as the fallen policeman's comrades took immediate notice of the situation.

The Battousai flashed his glare maliignantly upon the advancing group stopping some in their tracks as the others continued on heedlessly toward him. And the screams repeated by whimped cries... the screams survived in his ears instilling themselves in his mind with a drumming sensation. His crystalline, amethyst eyes watched their approach reflecting the golden light of the fire beyond until the amber hues stained themselves permanently in their burning yet apathetic depths. He waited. They approached...

The sakabatou flipped.

Steel and flesh united once more as the first man met Kenshin head on. A gurgled cry died in the man's throat he fell to the side beside his already disposed associate. And Kenshin trembled. His entire being trembled as a sort of dull agony thudded against his chest constricting his organs and strengthening his limbs. Maddness was ensuing. Or had it already come?

He stood motionless, the tip of his sword held straight in front of himself in a silent warning to the advancing officers. His breath was shallow as he continued to quiver under the weight on his mind mixed with the urgency to reach the owner of those heart-wrenching screams. Just as he slightly crouched to defend against the next approaching policeman, a short sting bore against his collar. His left hand flew to remove the dart out of reflex as the right parried his offender. A loud crash startled both men as the outlook of the front porch collapsed upon itself.

The scream stopped for only a moment before it was replaced by an ear-shattering shriek.

Kaoru.

The man made to lunge once more, but Kenshin was faster as the point of his sword met the man's throat before he even had a chance to step forward. His swing was slow, the hitokiri noticed off-handedly as dread chewed at the joints in his fingers and made his body begin to grow numb. It had been a poison dart, yet he still had time.

With a staggered step, he moved forward as two more men ran towards him swords drawn and ready to kill. Despite his developing lethargy, the shorter man managed to discard them with little effort pushing himself forward as a hand caught his sword arm and held it immobile as another reached for his left hand rendering him useless. Still he fought to push forward despite his restraints and festering inertness, his body lagging against the arms of those holding him as his legs struggled to support his weight. His sword suddenly fell heavily from his grasp clattering to the ground with a metallic thud raising the dirt around it in mild, ashen clouds.

All was silent. All was still. And the house burned in ragged flames that smoldered the posts and incaved the walls upon themselves in golden and auburn tones that made the scene glow in ethereal visages almost as bright and rancorous as the spiteful eyes of the watching hitokiri.

All was silent.

All was still.

Not even the rushing policemen made another movement as all eyes fastened to the house, the roar of the fire overshadowing any sounds that could have been made from within the establishment. Their ears sought sonance, any sort of disshevelled noise besides the eerie crackle of the fire, but found themselves wanton. The pitched scream they sought was dead within the blaze not bothering to surface for even a second's fallacy.

All was silent

All was still.

And life did not pursue until a new cry replaced the stillness wrenching the others from their reflections immediately.

With a new power sought from grief or vengance, Kenshin pushed forward nearly breaking himself free of his captors. His eyes were wide staring with animalistic panic at the house as the outside wall of the kitchen collapsed upon itself sending an assortment of cinders and glowing embers out to its audience who gasped in its wake. The fiery haired man lunged forward again desperately at what was suddenly brought to his sight crying out indecipherably to the room shown him beyond the kitchen. Her room, now smoking in billowing clouds that rose above the splintered and flaming roof crumbled hazardly across her floor. The room he'd left her sleeping in.

He lashed about despite his restraints, despite the overwhelming dizziness that threatened to claim his senses. Even when a tall, built figure advanced to loom menacingly over his staggered body, a raised sword wielded in his hand, he fought to free himself, fought to move towards the house, fought for her. His frenzy consumed his mind as all else was blocked out, even his own sporadic screams that broke that stillness waning in the air.

Then the blow came swiftly. He made no move to block it as it struck him heavily upon the head and thus ceased his frenetic movement. He teetered on the edge of consciousness as he felt his arms being pulled in the opposite direction of the house and back through the cherry blossom grove. His fingers grew weaker finally relinquishing his hold on a small velvet box that fell unnoticed to the ground below his dragging body while his unfocused eyes watched what life he had tried to make dissolve and burn in the flame of a small house rising beyond the horizon just before the dart's effect matched with the strike to his skull brought him into a fitful unconsciousness.

From the shadows of an angled sakura tree, two amber eyes watched the struggle before him with dimming curiosity. Like the rest of the police force, he had been called out to attend to the fire at the Kamiya dojo, but unlike the rest, he felt no need to lend a hand when the entire assignment was sure to fail. He'd heard the Kamiya girl's screams just as clearly as the rest and seen the frantic reaction they had elicitted from Himura.

Damn fool.

He'd already scoured the entire vicinity for a way into the house with no luck. The whole proximity was completely engulfed in flames that sprang from the paper walls and wooden supports to the open windows and doorways. That had been the analysis far before Himura had even shown himself back at the residence.

Those other two had been by also, only evading the sentries when Saitoh himself had allowed them to pass. Both the kid and the rooster had found the entire ploy for rescue useless as well when their attempts to run into the house had left them scorched burns across their body before they could even enter a room. They'd given up, settling themselves to stand outside Kaoru's room instead waiting for a complex that could help them save her from the clutches of her burning room. Until then all they could do was wait for her outside her room and listen to her whimpered cries through the dull roar and crackle of the springing flames.

Himura would not give up so easily though, which is why Saitoh had not given him permission to pass and sent more officers to stall the legendary man hoping against hope that the man's fear would push his mind into a state of deterance that would make him less formidable to his men. He'd been right, Saitoh reasoned as he watched the man whose hair matched the effervescence of the glowing flames as he was dragged away. Still he felt a sort of discomfort in the pit of his stomach as he watched the man's two captors heft him into a low police cart drawn behind a single horse.

The girl should not have had to die. Not like that. Not with such little honor. At least he was sure the town and her friends would offer her a gracious memorial; she deserved as much. The thoughts echoed through his head as he stepped from his spot in the shadows onto the road and watched the small cart carrying Himura pull sullenly into the main street. His hand sought his pocket and drew a cigarette which he quickly lit and inhaled willing the slight tremble in his fingers to dissipate.

He exhaled calmly, lowering his chin to lay against his chest as he felt the accompanying numbness of his drag settle into his nerves before he took another. His eyes opened calmly as the cigarette was perched between his slightly opened mouth, the gray fog it created hardly hiding the sharp glint of a small object from his keen eyes as his gaze fell smoothly to the road.

With languid steps, he perched beside the open object and listlessly lifted it from the ground. He held it with one hand, twirling it about between his long, lean fingers with simple dexterity as he examined its black, velvety case. Then his cold, amber eyes fixed upon the small article within and softened in the least of calibers while scanning the small, golden loop nestled gently within the velvet folds of its hull. He observed the quaint setting of sapphires lining the border of a cleanly cut diamond with building interest before snapping the box closed and watching its case with a heated stare.

Saitoh sighed as he took the cigarette deftly from his mouth not even bothering to exhale and instead allowing the after smoke to billow out of the crevices of his mouth and his nose with a shake of his head.

"Himura..." he said lowly before catching himself on the name and nearly laughing sardonically at the irony of it all. "Or should I say... Battousai..."

He glanced once more at the ring in his hand and then down the street in the direction the Battousai had been taken before stuffing the small box into his uniform pocket and walking silently away from the slowly extinguishing fire behind him. Suddenly, that knotting feeling in his stomach had become much worse.

* * *

Next chapter:

Travesty of Justice

(A/N) Heh heh... twiddles thumbs nervously. Don't kill me, it'll work out I promise. I just had.. to.. mess up their lives.. a bit. runs away screaming. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW and maybe something good will happen... maybe. I am motivated only by reviews which means that when you stop reviewing I stop writing. That simple.

Notes to Reviewers:

First off, thanks so much to everybody that reviewed. I appreciate your support more than I could ever convey here in words. I know that it does take time out of your schedules and reading time to review for my little 'ole story, but believe me, I am beyond overwhelmed with gratitude for it.

-Leigh- I agree that it's horrible how the government just won't leave Kenshin alone. He's only one man with the same basic physical limits as the rest of us. And believe me, certain people are DEFINENTLY going to get the full rage of the Battousai later on in this fic. -

-Nicky- Kaoru's journal does in fact play a role later on (I'm glad you caught my incite), but obviously it isn't the same one as mentioned in the prologue. I used that for several reasons including as reference to the tragedy that his reading of Tomoe's journal caused. It basically indirectly killed her. Thanks for reviewing!

-Vanilla Bean- The connection I'm making between my story and Linay's "Broken Pieces" is the off-handed nature of Battousai and the way he handles his situations. A few other things are similar as well, but the plots should prove to be VERY different. I hope you like my story anyway though.

-Psychotic Tanuki- Awww... you said my fiction was good... excuse me while I go cry and squeal and make happy noises. I feel so honored when great authors praise my work. I'm also glad you enjoy the mysterious mood since I'm going to be trying to keep it through the rest of the fic. Thanks so much for reviewing.


	3. Chapter 2: Travesty of Justice

(A/N) Wow, people don't like the idea of Kaoru being dead... not that I'm surprised, I like her too. That's why I've installed a certain scene into this chapter to assure everyone of her living state. Read, enjoy, review, you know the routine. Just please remember to review. I love reading it whether its good or bad, praise or death threats.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my collection of empty Altoid boxes. The computer is my mom's.

**A Bittersweet Elegy**

**Chapter 2: Travesty of Justice**

_"A dog can be appeased by food and a man can be bought with money... but no one will ever own Mibu's wolf."_

_-Saitoh Hajime_

Silence. Such a dangerous virtue as the shield of nothing that has no face, no features, no tangibility, but is all too vivid in its void on continuity. A comfort to some, a danger to others, it is the epitome of what dictates one's psychological stability. It claws with ethereal talons, watches with chimerical eyes, whispers with gentle voices that utter hushed elegies into the passings of the air that carry to deaf ears. And yet it is serene and intriguing. The most deadly force placed in the most easing of comforts.

He welcomed it gladly revelling in its cold, brazen touch. There was much to think about, and only silence could sustain the needed company he required for the task. Life was something one could reminisce about with the fleeting of a moment, but contemplating life from the views of another's perspective was something to be done in the presence of only one's own thoughts. He needed to think about his life, her life, their life. What was it? What had it been? What could it have been? He'd seen many a jovial, old couple strolling down the streets in Tokyo with their arms intertwined and their faces full of contentment as they finished errands together. Despite the obvious aging of their faces, they had remained enamored by each other, often stealing a moment to bask in the other's gaze or gingerly touch a close appendage.

Could they have been like that?

Would they have been like that?

His amber eyes burned into the opposite wall as he fisted his hands, the war within his mind waging with new found strength as memories from a day shortly passed assaulted him. Those men had deserved to die, he reasoned within himself. They allowed her to die without even a prayer of rescue while keeping him from doing what they were not willing to do themselves. If they'd only let him pass he would have spared their lives; if they'd only let him pass he could have saved her from that inferno.

Angrily, he pressed his lids securely over his eyes willing his aggravated breathing to steady and the quiver in his body to disperse and leave. A minute passed and he was settled, his eyes still shut as he leaned against the dank wall with one armed propped upon his bent knee while the other rested comfortably in his lap and across his other leg stretched out before him in a bored manner. His chin rested gently against his chest, his brow bowed.

The steady drip of a nearby water-source accompanied his thoughts in a rhythmic pattern beat into a cadence. Each inflection thudded against his ears with repeated precision until the dull meter was joined by the measured tapping of foot falls travelling in his direction. He didn't bother to move his head from where it rested at the approach of the new person, nor did he bat his eyes to steal a glance at their figure. The sound of the man's leisurely footsteps was already memorized long ago from the low thump of the rubber heel to the dull tink of the toe as the foot was lifted.

Eventually, the steps ended at his cell waiting against the wooden door to peer in through the small barred window at his shadow resting in the dark corner. The clink of keys broke the silence as the door was opened and a flood of light illuminated the room for a brief second before the door was once more closed and darkness settled in again. Kenshin watched the exchange of light through his lids not bothering to even twitch the edge of his mouth to show he was aware of what was progressing around him.

Just as well, Saitoh thought to himself. The man had lost so much in his life. They all had, all the survivors of the Bakumatsu, but some suffered far more than others and for reasons that haunted them beyond the constraints of the body. He himself was no exception. This man was no exception.

"Himura..." the former captain of the Shinsengumi addressed the languid man in the corner.

Little response was given to the greeting; instead, the man's crimson head lulled back on his shoulders to rest against the wall supporting him.

Saitoh took a step forward wondering how he should begin his next reasonings and where he should draw the line to the slight harassing he knew would be unavoidable. If provoked too much in this state, the hitokiri may prove to be rather aggressive and dangerous. He pondered another moment before giving up. Screw it. He was the one with the sword and the short bastard knew it too. The greater upper hand was by far in his favor.

"I warned you, didn't I?" he began slowly in a low, calm voice. "I told you they would condemn you just as you did them. The government's collapsing because of a few individuals who would rather restore tyranny than save the rights and lives of their countrymen. That's why they needed you to do what you once did. After all," he snarled, obvious disgust etching into his words, "you are our country's savior. You are the Battousai, the slayer of men and gods alike." He paused for another moment waiting for the man before him to make some sort of acknowledgement that he was even listening before snorting. "I guess not even the mighty Hitokiri Battousai can keep his life intact in this day and age, though."

"You knew didn't you?" a hushed voice echoed limply against the walls of the small cell.

"Knew what?" Saitoh responded as he watched the cords in Himura's exposed neck contract as the man swallowed and began to talk once more.

"You knew what they were planning for me, didn't you?" His voice was hardly even a whisper, strained from the lack of moisture gnawing within his raw throat. "You knew they meant to kill her... to get back at me."

Another indignant snort followed as Saitoh crossed his arms about his unifromed chest and leaned heavily against the opposite wall. Strangely, his voice didn't hold the same hostility as his actions when he spoke. "No. No I didn't know about the fire until I saw the clouds of smoke almost a mile away into town."

Kenshin's throat tensed as he forced down a retort, settling instead to state, "It was cowardly to target her. She was by all means innocent. An alibi was needed."

Saitoh immediately understood the unstated question and nearly sighed as he answered, "A kitchen fire, they say, caused by an unattended and lit stove."

The shadowed figure audibly growled and gripped the leg of his hakama tightly fighting the urge to jump up and scream his injustices. "The stove was left unlit when I left."

"Then who ever is behind this obviously lit it after you left."

"But that wouldn't cause the fire to light so quickly."

"Who cares. As long as the ashes of the stove look older than the ones around everything else, it's a plausible cause." Saitoh shrugged feigning indifference. "A plausible alibi."

"They deserve to die," Kenshin said in a low tone, his eyes opening slowly to stare at the wall opposite him in anger. "All of them."

At a loss, the taller man still leaned against the wall, arms crossed and a nonchalant expression embedded deeply into his face. How did one answer such a malicious accusation whether it was true or not? The lustrous, amber glow of the hitokiri's eyes helped him to place the shorter man's position in the corner, but in no way did they ease his tension. At least that hateful stare wasn't directed at him. But the silence would drag on soon into discomfort as each brewed in their own thoughts. Something needed to be said, and when the once clean swordsman grown shabby from days left to himself in a cell moved to lean his head back against the wall, he remembered a thought that may alleviate at least a small part of the younger man's mind.

"She didn't die as alone as you seem to think she did," he told the shadowed shell, averting his eyes to stare out the small window into the lit hallway.

Instantly, he felt the tingle of Himura's glare pressed pointedly against the side of his face though his head did not move from its perch against the wall.

"The rooster and the brat were there," he stated suddenly wishing he had a cigarette.

The fierce ki beside him grew in tumultous amounts and he realized his folly and moved to correct it as he sensed the muscles in the sitting man's body tense.

"Granted they weren't in the room with her," he quickly continued, careful to keep the same level of nonchalance he usually bore towards others. "They tried several times to reach her, but the fire was too hazardous. They could hardly even get inside." A quick glance back told him the Battousai had calmed only the smallest of degrees and was peering into his lap with a redolent expression. "So they stayed outside her room the entire time barely out of the fire's reach." He sneered to himself remembering their vain hopefulness at the situation. "Almost got burned alive themselves standing there trying to talk to her through the wall."

"Mmm," came a low mumble from the corner when the information was asserted completely.

A moment passed into a second and a second into a minute as the two men waited in the cell listening for anything the other might say or mumble unconsciously. Then a minute passed into ten and still the silence remained unbroken. The distant sound of a cell opening and closing followed by the steady rhythm of footsteps reminded Saitoh of his limited time as he absently pulled a watch from his coat and informed himself of the passing time. He had to have an answer soon.

"You know why you're here." It was a statement not intended in the least to be questioning.

He was answered by the dull nod of his brief companion as he continued.

"The department is at a loss of what to do with you. You've been here for a week now and none of them can seem to agree on a practical punishment. You killed several officers which in all technicality puts you as a deserving candidate for execution, but because of your history in the Meiji services and such, they're not sure if it would bring worthy justice."

"So what is to become of me?" Kenshin asked, the mocking tone is his voice riling a rueful smile from the wolf.

"They've decided to let you choose." He waited a moment for the news to register in the other's mind and saw the short glint of surprise rise in his amber eyes before proceeding. "It would seem that your skills are something they would like to borrow through your services to them. At first when they told me to ask for your consent I told them of your philosophies about working for the government, so they gave you other choices. It's either work for the Meiji as a spy or involved associate, meet your death by execution in a few days, or wait out the rest of your natural life in this cell and others just like it."

The air thickened in the moments that followed as both men processed the conditions. A minute passed and the former hitokiri sitting stationary in the dingy corner snorted derisively raising a hand to smooth the knotted hair atop his head and rub the dirt from the slowly lengthening stubble along his jaw and upper lip. A week without simple conviences would do that to a man: leave him dirty and hungry with the remanents of a slowly growing beard.

"So," Saitoh began slowly breaking the silence even further. "What will you do?"

"I am a swordsman," came the answer just as slowly as the other man's eyes closed and his chin came to rest once again on his chest. He spoke only loud enough for the cell's other occupant to hear, but with a hidden sarcasm that left the wolf intrigued. "I am a swordsman. Criminals are slaughtered daily by the state and petty thieves spend their days rotting in cages like animals. Thugs are offered to rectify themselves by spying on their own brothers and felons are forced to act as government dogs to the public eye."

Saitoh watched him meticulously, a consenting smirk beginning to rise from the corners of his mouth. "And what of us? What of swordsmen?"

Moving his eyes to meet the older man's stare, Kenshin reciprocated his haughty smirk, a livid flame igniting deep within his burning gaze. He snorted amusedly and his smirk widened into a grin. Then he simply stated matter of fact, "We claim our vengances."

"Mm," Saitoh hummed correspondingly bowing his head briefly as he turned on his heel toward the cell door. "I suppose I should tell them of your resolution then, shouldn't I?"

"I suppose you should," Kenshin replied, the grin still tugging maliciously at his lips.

Saitoh hummed again in response and stepped out of the door, light once again briefly gracing the dank room before the door was closed and the light was extinguished.

The fiery-haired assasin snorted dryly to himself in amusement as he waited for Saitoh's footsteps to sound off in the quiet corridor beyond. Instead, the wiry man's voice caught him from the opening in the window as a small, metallic object was thrown towards him.

"I believe this is yours, Battousai," Saitoh curtly said just as Kenshin caught the object before it hit the wall. "You dropped it." With that, the former leader of the Shinsengumi's third division strided away and into the hall.

He stared out at the window a moment as he grasped the small object laying absently in his hand and his thoughts wandered towards Saitoh for a moment before his attention was redirected towards his hand. Opening his fingers, he gazed down idly at the thing, recognition instantly furrowing his brow as he quickly glanced back out the window. There in his palm rested the same sapphire and diamond encrusted ring he had bought a week ago. Its golden band still proudly gleamed in the sparce light while the gems themselves glittered in fascinating hues despite the dark.

It reminded him so much of her.

Carefully, he maneuvered it between his fingers examining it the same way he had done the day he bought it before gently folding it into his hand and clutching it tightly as a dull pain throbbed against his chest. He'd keep it for memories sake. He owed her at least that.

* * *

"Will she be ok?"

"I dunno."

"What! You're a doctor, you HAVE to know!"

"Look kid, I may be a doctor, but I'm not god."

"SO?!"

"SO, that means I don't know."

A low growl was heard as the arguement broke off and the younger of the two voices receded to watching the patient on the futon lay sprawled on their stomach, their back bare and covered in different assortments of oils, creams and bandages all the way up to the neck.

The other sighed after a moment, taking a bottle from her side and squeezing the contents thickly into her hand before gently massaging it into her patient's tattered shoulder bare of skin. When she was finished she stood and looked behind her, softly addressing the person sitting against the far wall.

"Sano," she said softly, almost endearingly. "I need to rewrap your burns."

She saw him blink before he sighed and stood, walking over to the medical table and holding his arms out to the female doctor as she silently unwove them, discarded the soiled material, and bathed his arms in lotions just as she'd done the unconscious patient behind her. As she began to apply fresh bandages to his exposed arms and shoulders, she smiled, risking brief glances up at the man's face flirtily.

"What is it, fox?" he remarked, his voice void of any teasing or displeasured emotion. Instead it was quiet, almost a whisper.

"That was very brave," she said shortly, her voice still strangely soft. "What you did for our little tanuki."

He shrugged despite the intense pain the action incited in his burned shoulders and allowed a small grin to reach his lips. "I'm sure she would have done the same for me."

Megumi nodded as her hands continued with her work, involving a certain amount of care she never showed the rooster-head before as admiration filled her.

"It was still very brave of you." She finished the knot and smiled genuinely up at him unable to hold back the glint in her eyes.

In response, all he could do was continue to grin stupidly as he returned her gaze.

Behind them, Yahiko was ignorant of the exchange basing all of his attention on the young woman lying beside him. It was tragic for him to see her like this. It hurt and he had no recollection of any similar pain to compare it to. His eyes watered slightly as he fought the emotions that threatened to surface. Gingerly, he reached out a small hand, his fingers slowly seeking a loose strand of her hair and pulling it away from her scorched back with painstaking care.

"Will she be ok," he asked again, his voice so mild the room's other occupants nearly missed it.

Megumi glanced between the boy and the man in front of her before turning to kneel beside the child and in a moment of uncharacteristic behavior wrapped her arms around his smaller body and gave him a firm, comforting squeeze.

"I hope so," she said finally leaning back on her heels as the man came to perch beside her. "I hope so."

* * *

"I hope you understand what it is you have agreed to do," Yamagata said quietly to the figure reclining against the wall in the shadows at the other side of the room.

"I understand," the figure answered, his golden eyes reflecting upon the fire that slowly ebbed in the room's hearth. "I understood before I was even given the choice."

The older man nodded understandingly before sitting back deeply in his chair and crossing a booted calf over the knee of his other leg while his hands came to rest in his lap. "I'm sure you did." He paused a moment in reflection before continuing, "I'm sure Saitoh Hajime filled you in for the most part about your duties."

"They aren't much different from what they used to be, I'm sure I'll manage easily enough," the cold tenor stated fingering the lacings of the new sword at his side.

Yamagata scoffed in his seat moving a hand to massage his aching temples, he was almost jaded with disappointment and disgust over the events of the past two weeks. First the fire and now this. "Why are you suddenly agreeing to this, Himura?" he nearly barked, confusion and anger pilaging through his voice. "What happened to your 'will to protect'?"

The hitokiri didn't even flinch at the malevolent tone and brash words coming from the man on the other side of the room. He was almost too composed to be assuaged by this man's words. So, he answered with the same dry voice he'd been using for days as he stepped forward towards the desk in the middle of the room.

"I found it all to be a cruel hoax; another idealism founded by the ignorant."

"Even in death you would dare to call her ignorant?" Yamagata asked, his surprise evident.

"No, not her. She was naive, but not ignorant. I was ignorant enough for the both of us. My personal idealisms began to cloud my perception of reality and I forgot one of the most important things a man could ever learn throughout his life."

"And what is that?"

"The will to protect is nothing without the will to destroy. I remembered that the hard way."

Yamagata stared at his pale visage for a minute in the dying light of the fire before nodding slowly and reaching for something on the edge of his desk.

"Here," he said curtly reaching to hand the younger man a small packet. "This is your information about scheduals and government heirarchy. As an assasin to the Meiji, you will be required to be held completely in the shadows. I'm sure you already know that already as well so I'll cut down to the main faction of my speech." He cleared his voice and sorted through a few papers on his desk before meeting the golden stare of the hitokiri before him and proceeding, "Your orders will be coming from the fourth division branch leaders. Katsura Matsuyo in particular."

Kenshin stiffened and unwittingly arched a heavy eyebrow to show his suspicions to the governor.

"He's a particularly well developed young man if I do say so. I believe you two will get along fine seeing as how the both of you already have something in common. After all, he is the nephew of Katsura Kogoro."

"Mmm," Kenshin replied lost in deep thought briefly. "Is that all?"

"Yes," Yamagata said turning to a pile of papers on the corner of his desk. "But I was going to ask you if..." he cut himself short as he raised his head to find himself talking to only the lurking ghosts of the room.

Battousai was already gone.

An open window on the side of the room drew in a chilly draft from outside and the aged politician turned to evaluate it. He sighed and sat back in his chair shaking his head irritatedly. This did not seem to bode very well.

* * *

Stoically, he slid the shoji of the inn open ignoring the odd stares he received from the other occupants in the foyer of his employer's hotel. Vacancy was permitted only to those Katsura Matsuyo trusted in business and the like, so he found it unnecessary to hide his short form and the drenched, crimson stains that dotted his grayed hakama and navy gi from their inquisitive eyes. Most of them had not witnessed his arrival earlier that day and were thus shocked by his disheveled and bloody appearance.

Even if they had not known of his earlier arrival, they still recognized his signature features that carried on even through legend. His crimson tresses and the crucifix-like scar that marred his cheek gave away his identity immediately. With such knowledge dispersed throughout the crowd of men, he was left to himself to do as he pleased without intervention or stall. Everyone knew anyway...

He was as deadly as sin.

Without a word to his coworkers or even a quick glance about the room, Battousai turned into the bedroom corridor set on reaching his destination quickly. Soon his designated room was found and he hurried himself through slamming the door shut behind him before racing to the mirror and water basin in the far corner. Slowly, he leaned in to gaze at his reflection, immediately noting the flare of amber that exuded from his anger filled eyes as his hair seemed to bleed from the roots to the tips in auburn-red hues that engulfed the whole of his former fire orange locks.

So this was what it came to, he thought glancing at his heightened ponytail briefly before acknowledging the pulsating throb that refused to ebb in all three of his scars, especially the one that split from his lower lip to the crease of his chin. That night would now remain with him in every mirror until the day he died just like the day his wife died by his own hand. Glancing about his face again, he examined the short beard he had grown about the length of his lower jaw and about his mouth and chin. It was a change he decided that was for the better. It made his new life more unique from his old one at the dojo. He'd soon learn to live concedingly to it.

Numbly, he noticed the slight tremor that ran through his right hand as it helped support his weight against the table holding the basin. Being an assasin never did come that easily to him. It just seemed so hypocritical and mindless. He learned fast enough that it was, and so were the assasins. Such was life.

Such was what he'd chosen.

* * *

Next chapter:

Hear No Evil

(A/N) See, she ain't dead. I could never really kill Kaoru. Besides, this IS supposed to be a K/K/B story. In fact, they meet according to my outline in two more chapters. The ACTUAL plot of this story picks up in the next chapter... but I'm going to a veterinary studies camp thingy Sunady so I'll be gone for a week and unable to update. That's why I got at least this filler chapter in before I left.

Anywho, PLEASE REVIEW!! I love my reviewers to death and they really are the only thing that inspires me to continue.

REVIEWER RESPONSES:

-Psychotic Tanuki- innocent smile I'm not evil. What ever could you be talking about? I'm glad you liked the suspense I tried to portray in the scene. It was quite grueling to write since I didn't want to just say that she was burning in the house or draw it out so painstakingly that everyone gave up and stopped reading. I'm tellin' ya though, Tanuki, this baby has so many more curves to come. I haven't even really gotten in to it yet. I've really only begun to set the stage.

-Nicky- As you can see, she survived (I couldn't kill off the story's heroine in the first chapter now could I?). After the fire though, Kenshin did desice to return to being an assasin for the government again, but with ulterior motives ). Kaoru's in for quite a ride though.

-Luna Angel- Ahh... a death threat. Can't argue with that. I hope I've appeased you though by updating quickly and not killing her. twiddles thumbs nervously

-kouri- I'm glad you like my story. means a lot to me also that you credit my usage of darker tones and my incite on Kenshin's personality. This update's early just for you!

-Jen- Heh heh... well I wouldn't call it an angst story, but I will call it major drama and.. I didn't really... kill... Kaoru per se. Faith people, I need faith!

-u meanie (ouch)- cries she's not dead I swear! I just needed for Kenshin to believe that she was so I could properly position him in the plot. She'll be very much alive and well soon in the fic.

-Naomi-chan- Relieved to know you trust me, cuz things will get better for Himura-kun eventually. And threats are welcome as long as they're not carried through. I kinda enjoy life sometimes. laughs nervously Thanks so much for the praise it means a lot to hear such nice words given to little unknown authors like myself.


	4. Chapter 3: Hear No Evil

(A/N) Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, it means everything to me. I also borrowed the ideas of "the will to protect" and the "will to destroy" from Linay-sama. I feel bad about forgetting to put that in the last chapter.

After realizing that the story notes I had for "A Bittersweet Elegy" really once went to Chapter 3, I decided that I should sit down sometime soon to see what kind of stuff I can come up with for future chapters. In truth, I don't even have a clue as to how this will end, tragic or happy or merely contented? I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm open to suggestions from others though I do have a VERY faint idea of where the plot will be heading in the future.

Lots of OOC in this chapter I think especially from Sano, but it couldn't be helped. I really hate the way I wrote this chapter, but I couldn't find any way to make it better. sigh such is my life.

Disclaimer: Watsuki Nobuhiro is NOT the rightful owner of Rurouni Kenshin, he just doesn't know it yet. BWAHAHAHAHA!! ... please don't sue me...

**A Bittersweet Elegy**

**Chapter 3: Hear No Evil**

_"Great men are always of a nature originally melancholy."_

_-Aristotle_

Two years later...

-

Katsura Matsuyo stood with his guest handing the man a thin stack of papers before excusing him to the door and saying his last goodbyes. With the last politician dealt with now, he was at better leisure to relax in the company of his comfortable, yet well endowed office. He sat back in his western fashioned chair and gave an inaudible sigh, his left hand reaching to smooth over his well conformed, short hair. Sometimes he really and truly did loath his job in office, but if he weren't the one occupying the position then there may as well be a bright beacon calling for trouble in his stead.

It was one thing to converse over political matters, it was a totally different matter to discuss absurd rumors tracing among the local civilians in Kyoto. His legislative guests this evening had been more inclined to debate on the latter rather than the former to his growing irritation. To avoid any suspicions or spite from his coworkers, Matsuyo had played along accordingly occassionally offering a small comment or chuckle to his elders. Then again, why not? Although these men believed themselves to be dwelling on simple gossip and rumors, he himself knew better.

The men had talked about the rumors of a manslayer to rival all those before him from Shishio Makoto to even the legend himself, Hitokiri Battousai. He killed mercilessly and swiftly rarely giving his victims the chance to even think of screaming or defending themselves against his vicious onslaught. Not a man like Shishio, nor a demon like Battousai, but a ghostly myth absorbed all in himself and his legacy. The supposed immediate death toll of this monster already surpassed the hundreds. In fact, Katsura mused to himself, he wouldn't be surprised if the number was already advancing near or in the thousands. A hefty number for a "time of peace", especially when the killer remained in the shadows and slaughtered only when instructed.

Rumors. Myths. Legends.

The other politicians had warded off their fear for safety with a mantra predicting the supernatural powers of storytelling passed down through old hags and naive, passionate children. They felt no need for fear or caution given such reasons. Katsura grinned to himself. He knew better and first-hand as well. In fact, he was the instructor of this new slayer, an employee with benefits all his own.

Speaking of which, he may as well call him out and into the open.

"Himura," he said lazily feeling himself recline further into the comfort of his leather chair. "I know you're in here, so save us both the trouble."

A shadow in the far corner of the room twitched and Katsura watched it with dull amusement as it slowly morphed shape until the ends fit into the sculpture of a man silhouetted against the stray light of the lamps in the room. He took a few slow steps forward until he stood on the opposite end of his employer's large, burgundy desk and awaited further instructions.

"Tonight went as planned?" Matsuyo asked resting his elbow on the side of his chair and reclining his chin into his palm.

"Hai, Katsura-san."

Katsura nodded approvingly glancing at the short figure in front of him with interest while taking in his rustic appearance and characteristic features; the crimson, auburn hair flaming from its high-held band atop his head that grew into short, smooth lines about his jaw and lip. The hitokiri had apparently accepted the facial hair after his time alone in a cell after the 'accident', as they had quietly named it. Katsura himself had become curious to his sudden need for a change in appearance, but shrugged it off out of respect and duty for his fellow operative.

The two were of almost identical age, Katsura leading with at most two years leverage, yet their physiques and demeanors gave no similarities between the two. One, a tall, stately politician with all the manners of a well educated man masked in expensive suits and socially accepted cuts; the other, a small, lithe swordsman lacking in extrovert qualities and hidden behind his tattered gis and worn hakamas. Similar yet different with a single common link that kept the both of them in good terms of one another: Katsura Kogoro.

Despite the family relations built between Matsuyo and his uncle, none would deny the untainted tie the demonic manslayer shared with his past employer, friend, and role model. Some might even say that the hitokiri's hair only burned so lividly because of the respect he held for his deceased companion who escorted him through the beginning trials of life during the Bakamatsu and taught him what life should truly be meant to live for rather than the ideals of a desperate nation thriving to survive and change.

"You've done well, Himura-san," the former spoke, turning in his chair ever so slightly to watch the man in front of him. "Arigato."

"Don't thank me," came the stern reply. "Such actions should have no thanks."

"But I do thank you for what you've done," Matsuyo continued gesturing towards the hitokiri demurely. "Your country would thank you for what you have done for it in the past and what you are doing for it presently. You're a hero to them."

The shorter man shifted from one foot to the other casting his gaze silently to the floor so that his eyes were shielded by his bangs. "You would dare to call me a hero?" It was an unthreatening question filled with angst and a hint of bitterness.

"Yes I would, and so would your countrymen," was the curt reply. "And what of it? It's the truth."

"Consider me a hero if you will," Kenshin slowly said, shifting his stance ever so slightly under his eyes as they lifted beyond his bangs to peer brokenly at the man before him. "But history would call me a monster."

"All the same, titles are easily gained and lost."

"Mm."

"But enough of this talk," Katsura said waving a hand in front of his face placatingly. "None of us enjoy dwindling in the past anyway. Your assignment is completed with no witnesses, correct?"

"Hai, Katsura-san."

"And are you ready for a new assignment in a few days?"

"Hai."

"Mm. Your next task will take place in two days outside of Kyoto, preferably a good distance away." He stopped to search quickly through a stack of papers on the corner of his desk before pulling out a small sheet with scarce wording. "You will be assasinating a group of officers traveling back from Tokyo supposedly carrying information concerning the whereabouts of the rebellion."

"Then what good would it do to kill the officers?"

"I'm not finished." He sat back and folded his hands over his lap. "Obviously, all of the officers in the end will be executed for being associated with the Shimenkakumei, but not before information has been attained. Leave a few for information before finishing them. We need that data."

"Understood." Himura leaned forward taking the sheet offered to him and scanned the contents.

"The details of location and time are included." Katsura's gaze narrowed slightly. "This is important, Himura. You haven't failed me once, and I trust you with this alone."

"Hai, Katsura-san." He bowed and made towards the door to exit when his employer's voice broke his thoughts bringing him back into the room.

"And Himura," Matsuyo began turning back towards the stack of work piling upon his desk. "The girl's off-limits. Avoid her. Don't let her see you or your work until you're gone." He gave a meaningful glance towards the hitokiri lingering in the doorway. "I don't like the bloodshed of women, but if she sees you... you know what to do."

"Hai, Katsura-san."

And before his companion could even lift his head once more, he was gone into the stillness of the night and the waning sighs of the soft breeze.

* * *

"I can't believe I won't see either of you for nearly a month!" a female voice sweetly said to her two companions as they moved slowly towards the carriage waiting at the residence's gates.

"Ahh, Jou-chan," a deep voice sounded close to her ear as they moved. "You'll be fine."

"It's not me I'm worried about!" she retorted, annoyance sounding thoroughly through her voice.

"We'll be fine too, don't worry. Just remember where you are and who's there with you." the voice's owner gave her a slight jostle at his implications and was rewarded with a blushing frown and a quick slap across his chest.

"That doesn't give me much reassurance, Sanosuke." She bunched her form trying to hide her burning face in the man's shoulder before both her companions could see the bright crimson hue she had taken on.

"Maa, maa, Jou-chan. You still shouldn't worry. Yahiko and I will be fine here. You've made sure of that already." He felt her relax slightly in his arms before continuing. "And I know Iwasaki-san will take even better care of you in Kyoto than we could here." He paused a moment in thought. "Or anyway, he better..."

Kaoru chuckled lightly to herself at her friend'd protective stance over her before glancing beside them to the boy walking quietly there his head hung slightly and his arms crossed securely against his chest. "Yahiko?"

"Nani?" his voice was soft, but he didn't even bother to meet her gaze.

"Are you sure you'll be ok?"

"Of course I will, busu," he spat straightening his posture slightly and giving her a fake frown that she easily caught on to.

She sighed softly to herself looking out beyond her human carriage to the real one waiting a few yards away.

"I can't believe I'm actually going to Kyoto. I haven't seen Misao-chan in years it seems," she whispered barely loud enough for the two men walking with her to catch.

"Oi, that's because you haven't seen her in years," Yahiko corrected giving her a meaningful stare that was quickly returned with a soft smile.

"I suppose it has been a few years since the accident." Kaoru stopped looking at her socks and sandals scrutinizingly as her hand lifted to her collar brushing the coarse trails left there from a night long past.

Both men stayed perfectly quiet at her quandry, opting instead to situate her comfortably in the open carriage.

"Kenshin would have loved this; to see Kyoto just before winter when so many of the festivals were coming."

Sano withdrew his arms from around Kaoru no longer having to carry her any further now that she was well seated on the bench in the carriage. He watched silently as she situated herself to a decent position before looking back at him, tears dwelling in the corners of her eyes as she thought back to her lost rurouni.

"Ahh, Jou-chan," Sano began softly, his gangster mask falling at the sight of his adoptive sister's sorrow. "I thought we'd been over this."

When she answered with a muffled sob into the sleeve of her kimono, he placed his large hand over hers on the seat and continued.

"Kenshin would have wanted you to be happy. That's all he ever really wanted in life. He wouldn't want you thinking of him like this, it's almost disrespectful to his name as your friend."

"I can't help it though, Sano," she sniffled wiping a few tears from her cheeks with the back of her opposite hand. "He died because of me. I don't think I'll ever get that image out of my head. All I saw was him and the police... and the sword... and... he fell."

Averting her eyes elsewhere, she blinked back a few remaining tears that threatened to spill.

"Kaoru," Yahiko said stepping into the carriage across from her and looking at her squarely. "We all know how much you loved Kenshin, but Sano's right. He wouldn't want you mopping around him like the busu you are. Iwasaki-san wants you to join him in Kyoto, he wants to give you a better life than any of us could ever give you. Don't ruin it for yourself. If you don't stay in Kyoto for yourself or even for us, do it for Kenshin."

It was weird. The kid was actually getting pretty good at these little speeches. Three years ago, Kaoru would have passed out from hearing such a thing from Yahiko, but now it seemed almost normal. So in turn, she gave him a heart-felt smile and leaned forward towards him to wrap him lovingly in her arms. After a moment, he reciprocated the hug, rubbing her back soothingly for a moment before they broke apart.

"Thank you, Yahiko," she said as he moved to jump down from the carriage. "I'm sorry for all the trouble."

The boy shrugged his shoulders seemingly apathetic, but Kaoru knew better as Sano moved forward to give her a quick hug.

"Don't worry about it," he said smoothly standing back up straight and giving her a cocky grin. "You just worry about taking care of you. Remember to send us a letter when you get there."

"I will."

The carriage jolted a bit as the driver climbed up into his seat and began talking to the group of officers they were to be traveling with.

"Do you think all these policemen are really necessary, though?" she asked looking around at the fair sized group across the road.

Sano shrugged looked in the direction she had suggested. "Dunno. Iwasaki-san was concerned about your safety coming up so I guess it's no surprise that they're here."

"I still don't understand the need to have twenty officers escort me from Tokyo to Kyoto. It's not that dangerous," her lips pouted a bit at the thought as she glared at the crowd waiting to depart.

"I bet it's because of that new hitokiri," Yahiko snickered casting a glance also at the officers. "I bet Iwasaki-san is afraid of losing his precious Kao-chan to the big, bad assassin."

Kaoru glared at him, her cheeks flushed and her visage slightly paled. "That's not funny, Yahiko."

"Which part?" Sano cut in throwing her a wry grin.

"All of it."

"Aww... Jou-chan is afraid of the big, bad hitokiri!" Sano jested sounding a bit too much like Yahiko for anyone's comfort.

"No," she immediately replied huffing a bit as she tried to smooth the front of her lavender kimono.

"Ah, come on," Yahiko said crossing his arms about his chest and smirking haughtily. "You don't really believe in those rumours do you?"

"Well you never know, there could be a new hitokiri lurking in Kyoto. Kami knows there have been ones before. Just because it's a rumour doesn't mean it's not true."

Sano sighed cutting his humour for a moment to glance up at Kaoru. "That's why you have all these officers with you."

For a moment, she looked uncertain before nodding slightly in acceptance.

A few shouts were heard between the driver and the officers before the carriage Kaoru was sitting in slowly began to move forward behind the twin bays pacing in front of the coach.

"Take care, Jou-chan," Sano called to her as she slowly began to move away. "Remember to write us, we'll be there in a month."

"Bye, Kaoru," Yahiko called waving briefly before settling to watch the carriage recede into the street.

"Bye, Sano. Bye, Yahiko," Kaoru called back in turn as the carriage pulled out into the main road and began to pick up pace. "I'll miss you!"

Sanosuke and Yahiko waited until she was out of sight before turning and heading back towards Dr. Genzai's house where Kaoru and Yahiko had taken up residence the past two years. They walked in silence as the mumblings of the street and crowd drifted to their ears and settled their nerves.

"You think she'll be ok?" Yahiko asked softly keeping his eyes cast to the dirt before him.

He was answered with an abrupt pounding to the top of his head as the ex-gangster angrily retorted, "Of course she will. Do you really think Iwasaki-san would let anything bad happen to her? He probably wants to friggin' marry Kaoru sometime soon."

"Yeah, I know, but the hitokiri..."

"...is just a rumour made up by tired old hags trying to remember their glory days during the Bakumatsu." He stopped and turned to glare at the younger boy. "Look, when Kenshin was the Battousai, people didn't rumour his existance, they knew he was real. Same with Shishio Makoto. Rumours end in truth and there is no truth behind those rumours."

Yahiko glared back at Sano calculating his opponent's words carefully before continuing, "How do you know for sure?"

Sano paused before looking away abruptly and starting back towards the house. "Shut up, kid."

* * *

Mercy was a funny thing. While some would call him merciful for ending his victims' lives swiftly and virtually painlessly, others would say he was a merciless murderer killing indiscriminately and feeding off of blood and death alone. Either way, he killed, and so whether or not he practiced the tact of mercy became of no generic consequence to him provided the task was completely accordingly. Mercy was, after all, just a meaningless display. In the end, it would finish just the same with or without it.

With such reasons drilled deep within his cerebral region and governing his decisions, he silently stalked his targets from the bordering brush edged along the campsite and waited until one or possibly a few were ignorant enough to pass close enough in his direction for him to dispose of them as soundlessly as possible so as not to expose himself to the rest of the party and consequently the woman whom he was to be avoiding. Currently, he had taken six of the officers and was intently surveying the eight gathered around the fire pit while gauging the other six that had receded to their tents for the night.

His existance had gone undetected as of yet, the only clues left to the conversing, uniformed men being the ever subtly change in shadow as he moved deftly about the site in calculating circles examining the layout of the camp and the whereabouts of each member of the group. There had been twenty men total plus the woman who had not ventured from her tent since his arrival almost an hour ago. Eleven tents scattered about the premisis conveyed that the men would sleep two to a tent while the woman would be left to herself. Just as well, it made his job by far easier especially with her lack of appearance. The horses and coordinating wagons were settled a few yards outside of the camp saving him the risk of startling one of the animals and alerting the men to some sort of disturbance.

He glanced in the direction of her tent. A lone candle glowed through the palpable material of her shelter dancing in the laden fires of his cold, amber eyes and reflecting dimly in the metallic sheen of the small, circular trinket he carried on a chain about his neck. Without a thought, he tucked the round object securely into the neck of his dark, navy gi before steering his gaze back to the men satisfied that she would not be leaving from her position anytime soon.

Carefully he crept forward, his feet moving soundlessly against the padding of the forest floor as he came closer to the circle of men gathered and talking uproariously around the large, warm fire. Hopefully, another would excuse himself to attend to natural indulgences at present or at least soon so that he could continue with his mission and maybe even speed up the process. Though he was an assassin by profession, lurking and creeping in the shadows at night was not exactly something he revelled in. He preferred the facial approach more by far where hand to hand combat was a possibility. That at least gave the men some sense of honor in death unlike being picked off one by one inconspicuously. Stupid woman. Why did such large groups always have to travel with a woman?

Too late to persuade them otherwise now. Now it was time to wait patiently unless he was willing to forfeit his secrecy.

"Hey," one of the men around the fire said to his comrades standing abruptly and taking a sweeping look around the area. "Where do ya suppose Etsuya went?"

The men all looked about in unison for a moment before another cut in slapping away their questions.

"He probably just went off to take a piss, the guy's had quite a bit to drink."

With a quick shake of his head, the man standing dismissed the notion saying, "Naw, he's been gone too long for that."

"Then he pro'lly went to bed, like the rest of you girlies should be doin' soon en'uff." The other snickered to himself eyeing his coworkers humourously before taking another quick swig of the bottle in his hand.

"Naw, he has the rest of the night shift to sit in for soon, so he couldn't have gone to bed."

The rest of the group speculated on his reasonings momentarily before realizing that others of their party were missing too.

"It seems that Daisetsu, Kakuei, and Haruki have also decided to step out," the latter spoke eyeing the woods around them indiscretely. "Maybe they found something we should take a look at."

Again the entirety of the brigade began to look about themselves for any sign of the others only to come up with nothing. The forest was as silent and ineffectual as always giving them no clues to its further residents, particularly a dark hitokiri waiting quietly behind the enclosure of tents watching them mutely.

"Let's go see what they found," one man said moving to advance into the woods just as Kenshin crept closer, his katana drawn and his other hand fingering the hilt of his wakazashi.

"What about the miss?" another asked quickly glancing back at the tent the woman was commissioned in. "We can't just leave her here unattended while the others sleep." His voice betrayed his emotional distress over the thought of leaving her defenseless, though the thought was not left unwarranted. After all, Kenshin mused, a man such as himself was stalking about the campsite waiting for an opportuntiy to seclude and kill.

The other men obviously caught on murmuring amongst themselves over the course of action to be taken before settling on a plan. The man who had spoken in turn secondly to the group took the initiative to explain the details of his operation. "Two of us will stay here to watch the miss. That way she'll be properly attended and we'll have a good share of scouts. The rest of us will do just that, scout about, we don't know which way the others headed in, so we need to split up to cover more ground in less time. This needs to be fast. Who volunteers to stay here?"

At first several hands flew up, each man glancing quickly back at the woman's tent before a few relinquished and lowered their arms until only two remained. Funny, either these men were cowardly when it came to patrolling, or they were especially fond of their dubbed 'miss'. Once again it really didn't matter. If anything, this new situation would definently ease his job considerably cutting the needed time to finish the task four times over. What great sudden luck.

After a moment's hesitation, the party dispersed ambling slowly in their own separate directions into the shadows of the forest, small flaming branches held in front of them to project some light on their immediate area and pistols held stiffly in front of them. Watching the paths each man took diligently, Battousai set to work pacing low in the brush like a wolf on its prey.

Carefully, he followed the light of one man's torch deeper and deeper into the woods easily avoiding clusters of frail twigs and leaves that would betray his position. Once the man had moved securely away from his comrades and coincidingly the campsite, he struck swiftly and silently before the sound of the man's unceremonious fall could be registered to the rest of the group.

Straight up through the mouth and jaw. It was the safest and fastest method of disposal he could presently practice without alerting anyone else of his unwelcome presence. The immediate piercing of the brain left no time for gasps or cries while the forward momentum was ceased so that the necrotic fall would be silenced by the body as it fell down upon itself rather than forward into a thicket. His theory proved itself true when the man's downward plight ended in the faintest of rustles he could have hoped for. Quickly, he stomped out the man's torch before it could alight to the dry foliage about it and stealthily moved ahead to his next target to lay in waiting and repeat the process.

Indeed, even with the sudden advancement of his assignment's pace, it would still prove to be a long night.

A sudden rustling of grass and brush several yards outside her tent caught Kaoru's attention halting her hand from its occupation. Though her tent was centered farther in the center of the ring of tents, she was still acutely aware of each sound and movement made around her from the dull snores and shallow breathing of the men based already within their tents to the low crinkles of leaves and debris outside the cleared area caused by the wind and small, curious animals. Her pulse quickened slightly as her head tilted in the direction the noise had come from watching the dim silhouettes beyond the fabric of her refuge with intent, sapphire eyes.

She would have been crass and naive to completely ignore the single occurence despite the fact that many women her age would do just that reasoning that it was just a rabbit who had passed by and been a bit louder than usual. Rabbits weren't heavy enough to cause that loud of a clamour among the thicker sticks lying farther out in the woods, but a person could, and the men made of habit of relieving themselves farther away from her current abode to avoid disturbing her. Curteous fellows, she had thought to herself earlier.

When no sound ensued minutes later, she shook the event from her mind conducting her attention back to her journal held protectively in the nook of her lap, a pen gripped tightly in her right hand as she began to continue her writing.

Keeping a journal was a sort of therapy for her. Each entry spanned up to a few pages long in length and covered all topics no matter how general or genial they may seem. It never mattered to her. Before the fire she had kept scores of finished journals in her room dating back to her seventh birthday when her father had first presented her with a small, empty book for her to express her thoughts and creativity in. Since then, it was merely a habit; a habit she thought all women should have and keep no matter the consequence of their possible discovery and exposure. It was an outlet no woman should be left wanting.

She sighed softly to herself as she wrapped her yukata tighter about her shoulders and moved to lean her chin on the palm of her left hand as the right continued to move in fluent arcs and crosses about the page discussing what was currently on her mind.

Another pitting crackle of brush in the woods yards directly in front of her snapped her attention back to her surroundings as the almost indecipherable and faint clink of metal slidding from flesh frenzied about her ears threatening to draw a startled shriek from her lips. She fought the impulse to panic settling instead to force herself to accept deep breaths and wait for any new occurences in the region around her.

She waited.

Even when the minutes slid by in couplets, Kaoru waited listening sharply for any sonance besides her bated breath and the strong pounding of her heart in her head. She could hear the soft roar of the fire outside and the light conversation between two men sitting idly close to it. She could also faintly hear the footsteps of the other men as they circled the area a good distance away just as keenly as she could detect the cryptic crunch to her left as yet another nameless object seemed to topple over upon itself under the protective tresses of the sylvan night. Sure enough the sound repeated itself only moments later as the footsteps of the patrol began to decrease considerably in number.

Needless to say, she was suddenly terrifyingly aware.

* * *

Next chapter:

See No Evil

(A/N) spasms and dies Man, this was a hard chapter to write and I really had a hard time with it. Maybe when I have more time I'll go back and fix it up a bit since I feel it to be lacking considerably in the "effects" department. Anyway, I'm using wordpad to write this since microword is being weird with my comp, so please just ignore any mistakes. I do make it a habit to go over my work and correct things that are blatantly obvious to me before posting, but being human and all I do miss stuff.

Here's the deal, and this is important, I'm a review hound. I live off of them basically and without them I DIE!! Even though I've settled on a basic plan to update maybe once a week, I may be assuaged by my reviewers to speed up the process. I don't care if your review is just one word, I just want to know if anyone is reading this, that's all. I only write when people read after all.

Blah, blah, blah.. hopefully the next chapter will be better and my sudden battle with writer's block with be over. I hate writing action, it's just so hard and intuitive. Next chapter is extremely important since a certain someone suddenly meets another certain someone. Anyway, until then!!

REVIEWER RESPONSES:

-Naomi-chan- gobbles up chocolate bar you gave her greedily Mmmm... nothing that sugary motivation to get a new chapter done. I really appreciate you reminding me about my borrowing Linay's theme, I nearly freaked when I realized I had forgotten to credit her. I'm also so happy that you added me to your favorites, I feel so honoured I could cry . I'm sorry this chapter is late but I've been too busy to do much about it. Hope you forgive me. I can also assure you that Battousai-san is in for quite a shock next chapter... whether for better or for worse, we'll have to see. Thanks also for the encouraging words, when I was strugling with this chapter I just kept going back and reading your review and somehow I ended up finding the ability to continue.

-Psychotic Tanuki- People don't give authors enough credit just like you said. It is so hard emoting what you see and hear and feel into words that aptly describe the scenario in detail. They need to make a devise that writes stories for you. You like plug it into your imagination and it writes out everything you're thinking perfectly for others to read. Then again, where would the stress of writing be then?

-Nicky- I can definently tell you that I won't kill Kaoru deliberately in this fic. I like her too and I think she's been through enough as it is. I can't promise you though that her hard times are over looks around nervously Heh heh.

-april-moon- I'm glad you're enjoying it and sorry about making you cry. At least she's ok though.

-Jen- Aww... I don't want you to cry either. Please don't, it'll work out somehow. After a while the mood will ease a bit, but I'm trying to work on a more somber basis. Hope you like it anyway.

-kouri- gobbles cookie Thankies!! gets nervous sudddenly Well, everyone kinda thinks Kenshin's dead since all they really saw of him was the officer knocking him unconscious with the hilt of his sword at a distance. That's why they're still separated. Glad you liked the chapter!

-Shiomei- It's great to hear that you liked it and I hope to hear from you again in another review!!

-nobody- cries herself Please don't crying, it'll get better. You'll see. At least Kaoru's alright and she does forgive Kenshin.

-koe760- Glad you like it!! Hope ya liked this chapter too!


	5. Chapter 4: See No Evil

(A/N) Heh heh, sorry this is so late people, but I've been having all sorts of troubles lately ranging from broken bones to homework to computer troubles and writer's block. This was an especially hard chapter to write because of what happens and I couldn't seem to decide how I wanted it all to go down. Anyways, it's here now and hopefully the next few chapters will come out soon and write themselves. I wish anyway.

Good news is I finally decided how I want to end this baby. So... warning: drama to the extrapolated extent in the future if you don't think it's already incorporated. Now I just have to decide on how I want to get to that...

AND A HUGE THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEWED!! IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME THAT I GOT 30 REVIEWS ON MY LAST CHAPTER!! THAT'S SO MUCH MORE THAN I EXPECTED!! THANK YOU EVERYONE AND PLEASE REVIEW AGAIN!!

Disclaimer: Watsuki Nobuhiro... it's a good thing.

**A Bittersweet Elegy**

**Chapter 4: See No Evil**

_"Piety shown the dead is pity in vain."_

_-Sophocles_

With a quick wrench from his shoulder, his katana smoothly withdrew from the nameless man's skull leaving him to collapse upon himself and into a heap as the others before him had previously done. The corpse lay immobile under the careful scrutiny of blazing amber eyes that watched with a dreary nonchalance. That made a total of six within the past half hour, the same six that began their patrol just as long ago. That left him with eight left to deal with. The six in the tents would be of no problem, it was the two positioned around the fire that gave him reason to worry.

He'd have to be swift in their deaths, that was certain. The deaths would also have to run in quick succession or he would run the risk of alerting the woman whose tent was no more than twenty-five feet from the fire. Any misjudgement on his part would cost the woman her life meaning Katsura would be highly displeased and he wouldn't hear the end of it for at least a year.

Nimbly dodging the flickers of light dancing from the hearth, he made his way into the circle of tents encompassing the southern end of the camp, silently slipping into the folds of one shelter unnoticed. Just to be safe, he opted to dispose of the men harboring in the tent nearest to the woman first so that the deed would be done and he could work with less effort. He'd leave the man in the tent on the far northeastern side for questioning after all his prior duties had been fulfilled.

With cushioned steps he strode beside the two men slumbering in the tent and knelt silently drawing both his katana and wakazashi in each hand. He carefully positioned the blades just above the men's jugulars before swiftly slicing through the veins simultaneously waiting a moment afterward to slowly retract them from their victims' throats in as hushed a manner as he could muster. A soft pop echoed inside the tent as the wakazashi unintentionally slit an air pocket in the left man's neck causing Kenshin to stiffen instantly listening for any hint that he had been heard. When the dreary silence of the sylvan night prevailed, he sheathed his weapons and stealthy left in search of another sleeping tent.

One of the men in the tents adjacent to her own must have hiccupped, Kaoru thought to herself as she bristled at the sudden short, odd sound coming from her left. Hadn't she become too old for these quirky little fears? Murderers raiding the camp at night was something she would expect herself to have dreamed of as a child on lonesome nights like tonight, but now she had outgrown the triviality of unsupported fears to focus on reality and the obligations that went along with such things. Assassins... she needed to get a life. Dwelling on Kenshin's history had made a mockery of her mind in her own personal sense. It was all just her insanely vivid imagination...

So why was she still aware of a new shadow suddenly flitting across the silhouettes of her tent before disappearing just as quickly as it had arrived?

She sighed irritatedly trying to rid herself of the thoughts that began to plague her mind while her ears continued to evaluate the perimeter around her never leaving their alert status as short, sudden scurries in the brush were instantly picked up and concisely evaluated. Lifting a hand to her face, she briefly massaged her temple running her fingers back through her hair to alleviate any measure of stress she was presently feeling. No such luck, she was still as edgy as she'd been before and now even more so with the sonance of a rustling sound coming from behind her somewhere within the camp.

It was crazy, but she decided to go with her instincts... and they told her she was in imperative danger.

Carefully, Kenshin peeked out from the slit in the tent's lining assessing the area silently while his wrists flicked splatters of blood simultaneously from his unsheathed blades. From the cover of his brief shelter, he analyzed the stations of the men sitting idly by the fire. They were facing him at present, his presence masked by the aura of the fire licking skyward toward the eaves of the overhanging trees. The men sat calmly talking in low, friendly voices as they took turns stirring the fire or adding wood hardly aware of their current surroundings. Perfect.

After those two were finished, he could move onto what the real need for this mission dictated: information. He had left the man in the far tent and was intent on using him once the last of the patrolling shift was delt with. Katsura had specifically instructed him to retrieve information on the where-abouts of the Shimenkakumei, the rebellion of the lower classes of people instigated by the interferance of certain government officials who seemed intent on detering Japan from any further democracy. Those particular officials were the goal of this entire scavenger hunt. But, as Himura often enjoyed reminding himself, in order to reach the top of the pole, the base must be severed to keep the middle from suffering as well. The metaphorical middle of the pole was society itself, the base being the one's who held it together and the top being those who preferred the less tactical means of becoming important.

That's what this entire rebellion was solely based on: a feeble belief that those in power measured themselves at the top of the pole instead of the base while the opposite had been proven to be true. The catalysts of the Shimenkakumei alliance were truly those who carried on the efforts of others waiting for progress before shifting themselves into importance. Squalid pigs.

A snarl etched itself upon his features briefly as his resolve was strengthened thundering against the impulsive rush of his blood against his veins as he sought action. The value of life would continue to be exchanged tonight, he thought bitterly as he stealthily wove beneath the haloed shimmerings of the large campfire directly infront of him careful to stay low and out of the excessive reach of the fire's light keeping his darkly clothed body as shielded from view as possible.

After a few moments, he was directly infront of the two policemen staring coldly at them through the flickers of the fire and listening to them chortle inanly over senseless banter. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he involuntarily shuddered, the knowledge of an impending death beating at his temple with relative strength as his hand moved to the hilt of his katana. Swiftly. He'd need to end this as soon as possible, kill them both in as quick a time frame as his skill would allow or else risk one of them eliciting an offending cry before his work was finished.

An instant later he came to his resolve, bunching himself forward on the pads of his feet and rectifying himself into an imposing crouch just beyond the fire's reach waiting for one of the men to make a move that would issue his attack. One man haplessly threw his head back in a quick, hearty laugh before leaning in closer to his comrade.

Kenshin felt the muscles of his legs instantly contract as he held his breath and lunged through the flames of the fire, his hand striking mindlessly in a swift battou-jutsu.

Kaoru stood from her bedding material pulling the folds of her yukata securely closed as she softly padded to the entrance of her tent and pulled the flap away silently ducking her head low for a moment to clear the tent's overhang. If she were going to be as jumpy as she was, she might as well do it in the company of her traveling companions where she could at least be comforted with the presence of others.

Her eyes lifted taking in the two forms sitting parallel to her beside the fire, their profiles easily distinguished by the burning flames. A small smile crept to her face as she took in their jovial demeanors when a disturbance in the shadows of the fire caught her sudden attention. Without warning and in that same instant, a figure lashed out from behind the cloak of the fire drawing his sword in a smooth arc that aptly left both men silent as they fell back from their perches on a short, dilapidated log. A brief spray of crimson rain followed as the only figure still erect began to pull itself from its concluding crouch.

Before the image could fully register in her mind, she pulled herself back into the safety of her own tent clutching at her chest to relieve the tightness she felt there. Her mind screamed and her senses soared as realization hit her immediately and she acted hoping to at least prolong her own life. Silenlty, she ducked out the back of her tent careful not to intimate any noice that would summon the attacker's attention. She needed to awaken the rest of the group, warn them of the ensuing danger she'd just witnessed.

Flying out the back of her tent, she all but dove into one of the regiment's other structures quickly kneeling beside one of the men she found sleeping there. Giving him a rough shake she hissed close to his ear, "Wake up!! We're being attacked!!"

No movement. The man remained where he was on his stomach facing away from her frightened self.

She shoved him again hoping for some sort of response but found none. Desperate, she turned to his bunk mate and repeated her actions frantically hissing in a near shriek, "Wake up!!"

Again no reply, just silence as she sat back on her heels and retracted her hands clutching them tightly in dismay. Their texture suddenly felt oddly slick, she noted as she lowered her eyes to gaze at her fists with growing uneasy. Blood. Her breath caught as she glanced between the men realizing finally the patches of dampened and darkened areas on their uniforms. Quickly, she scooted away, her hands going to cover her mouth in order to silence a scream she felt building in her throat and threatening to be released.

Slow footfalls met her ears, her senses heightening as dread continued to build at the edges of her consciousness seeping into a clutter of chaos in her frenetic mind. Soon, a foot became visible from the folds of the tent's opening as the figure waiting guardedly outside stopped infront of her shelter. She held her breath as she watched a crouching knee become visible in the dim silhouettes issued by the still blazing fire and her would-be assasin's frame became oddly outlined in the sparse light outside the tent. Moments later his hand moved, but she had already decided upon her resolve and moved to act just as quickly.

Gathering himself back up from his finishing pose, the hitokiri glanced about himself at the camp noting the stillness and wary demeanor of the area. He'd been careless, he decided as he calmly walked the distance between himself and a faintly glowing tent a few yards away. His sword dragged mindlessly in the soft dirt of the camp echoing a soft scratch from the soil and rock it delved into. The woman had seen him, he knew. The slight swing of her tent's folds and the lack of presence within the housing confirmed his suspicions. He didn't bother glancing into the room already aware that his quarry was absent.

A strong ki drummed at his awareness sparked from within a tent to his left. Indeed, she had fled in her fear. He would have expected as much from her and had not been disappointed. Absently, he followed her signal coming to a stop in front of the tent he knew she currently occupied. Kneeling beside the entrance, he decided to make the ordeal as untraumatic as possible, opting to end it quickly and without explanation. It was easier for them both that way. Killing women was never easy, nor was it something he took lightly, especially when they were innocent. Yet it had to be done as Katsura-san had instructed.

Readying himself to lung into the tent, he unsheathed his katana drawing it close to his side as his other hand slowly began to move the folds aside. Then he struck blindly in a wide arc intending to slash his victim into shock before quickly delivering the fatal blow, but his attack connected with air as he felt himself unsteady off balance and the shrouding material of the tent collapse nettingly about his diminutive form securely stalling and hindering him for the moment.

His mind screamed angrily as he lashed about the constricting material of the fallen tent pulling and yanking at his limbs to free them from the durable fabric with little luck as he began to enfold himself further into the trap... Trap? Had he just been caught in a trap? A trap forged within seconds by a woman no less? He growled lowly to himself as his tangled katana freed itself with a swift, hard slash and thus afforded him an escape from his temporary cage. Degrading, he thought to himself as he briefly reflected on his tryst while reorganizing his composure and personal belongings currently secured to himself. An inane trap...

The vibrations of a more gutteral snarl began to shake his features as the thought fully imposed itself making the assassin all the more frustrated. There was no lingering question now as to whether or not her fate would be secured by his hands; she obviously was aware of him and had more than likely glimpsed his face making her existance dangerous to his cause. He sucked in a deep breath looking about the camp and into the thick woods beyond the clearing where only the sparsest of remnants could be found indicating the frenzied escape of a recent matron. And the air, he noted drawing both his swords to his side and allowing them to hang languidly at his arms' length while he slowly began to trek towards a newly made path into the woods, the air was thick with the ghosts of fear.

Rocks, twigs, and heighted roots obstructed her path as she fled from the campsite, her heart pounding tightly in her ears and her terrified breath misting her visage. In the distance she could hear the clatter of her attacker as he fought raucously with his new bindings seeking urgently to detangle himself from his sudden, unexpected imprisonment. The sound of shredding material met her ears moments later as she realized he had finally liberated himself.

Still she ran hoping to put as much distance between them as possible and be lost to him in the affording masses of the woods. Her hindering foot lagged behind her catching at sharp stones and debris she was unable to avoid and inflicting soft cries from her as she continued forward determined to lose her assailant in the brush, but as the laws of physics would endure, her persistance would not uphold for long. Moments later her foot caught on a raised root sending her careening forward into the harsh spines of a nearby thicket. An inaudible gasp escaped her mouth as the wind was knocked none too gently from her lungs and she landed harshly on the palms of her hands and hips. Not a moment was lost, however, as she instantly sought cover in the dense growth beside her crawling beneath the hangings of low trees, short growths and dead bushes to conceal her figure from prying eyes that she was sure would follow her.

And she waited with bated breath as the silence grew stronger in her mind until the soft pat of cushioned footsteps softly met her ears straining her hearing until she felt her ears would surely bleed. And still they came almost silently as the brush nearly refused to sift and rustle beneath the man's feet as he walked. He neared at a dangerous pace, each step coursing over the expanse of slow seconds until they rounded the bend behind her and meticulously carried their master within reachable distance of her relative sanctuary; until the faint sepia tinting of his tabi became blinding to her eyes in the complete darkness of the night lighted only by the highly distant glow of a dying campfire lengths away. She watched agonizingly as those clad tabi stopped their journey parallel to her side causing her to absently hold her breath as the glint of shining steel reflected in her eyes as the two swords he held in his hands were carefully turned in dextrous wrists.

Kaoru waited as he stood there, the swords leisurely revolving in his hands catching faint glints in the shimmer of her wide, tearing eyes. Silence ensued for a few more moments as she sat in her hiding spot watching the progression of the man's swords as the same gleam reflected periodically in her glassy orbs. Fear continued to rise in her the longer he lingered and she desperately hoped he would move forward and find another spot to search soon. The leering glint of his blades was beyond daunting and she fearfully waited as each revolution caught her eye. 'Why is he doing that?' she thought anxiously to herself as the weapons suddenly ceased their movement, the shine of the meager light settling blindingly in her eyes as they did so. A thrill went down her back as she realized what his purpose had been and in a dire attempt to mask herself once more she clamped her eyes shut willing her pursuer away an instant too late.

Seconds later a crackling scream erupted from her tense throat as the thick foliage and brush in front of her was nearly completely swept away from her with the quick, deft stroke of the man's katana leaving her haven open to view but herself still unreachable in the density of the thorny growth. He staggered forward through the debris carefully cutting what he could to reach her all the while staring transparently at her shaking form in the cover of the coppice. Doe eyes watched the apathetic gleam of amber slivers approach her slowly as her survival insticts began to drum in panging rhythms against the back of her skull until she felt she would faint from sheer horror. Those eyes... her mind screamed calling for action as her feet shot out kicking more spiny branches and debris forward to block her assailant as she stretched back to the edge of her designated hiding spot. Her feet shot out flinching when the cool steel of the man's sword grazed her leg or swept closely to her skin in a futile attempt to obstruct or deter him from his apparent goal.

Ripping through the final bindings of the thicket, she struck out scrambling to catch her feet as she hobbled forward, hope striking anew in her chest at her departure before a hasty blow caught at the side of her temple sending her sprawling into the lap of a nearby tree. Confusion reigned in her senses as the heavy steps of another person echoed in the stillness behind her as the person hovered hazardously over her gasping and panting figure. She lay there a moment under his menacing stance awaiting any movement from him that would issue her impending death. His foot shifted softly in the foliage as the sharp scrap of his katana rang against the stones on the ground.

"I'm sorry, miss," an expressionless voice said above her as she scarcely heard the breeze of his weapon being raised. "But there can be no witnesses; I apologize."

Malice filled her as his words and intentions registered fully in her head coming out as distorted lies meant to make her death tolerable in the eyes of her attacker. With the last reserves of her strength and courage, she spun on her spot against the roots of the tree glaring loathsome, gleaming eyes back at the dull, golden glow of his own forcing an inalienable understanding between the two for the present moment's time.

Hot tears welled at the corners of her eyes as she focused on the one point of the man she could decipher from his dark silhouette against the faint, dying light of the distant campfire behind him. Her scorn etched itself clearly on her features as he carefully examined the play of emotions dance briefly across her face at her inability to directly see him in the dimness of the night. Still his breath caught when he looked back fully at her, the remnants of his scattered memory wailing at something he thought he'd long forgotten in the passings of time and age. The steadfast grip on the hilt of his sword tightened whitening his knuckles and engaging an uncanny shake in his arm as he supportered the added weight of his weapon. She couldn't see him, but the slight beam of the campfire danced perfectly against the pale features of her angry face entracing each fine detail to his calculating eyes.

She died... he thought cautiously to himself unconsciously taking a mild step back from the cornered girl. She died. In the dojo. Years ago. Impossibility was not something he believed in though he decided as he noticed the malicious appearance on her soft features slowly level as traces of confusion threatened to surface in their stead at his sudden, questionable behavior.

"How dare you..." he heard himself hiss against the backs of his teeth as rage welled in the pit of his consciousness.

The girl was obviously startled as she straightened her neck pressing herself forward from the tree carefully giving him a bewildered look as his body lost its composure in flinching and trembling fits. Slowly as time passed into a minuite, she visibly slackened watching him diligently as he stood like an apparition against the backdrop of the fire, his hair easily molding into the firey tongues that licked out far behind him.

Kaoru felt her mouth move to speak, her lips struggling to pronounce the words she intended to affirm with him when a sudden slash struck the bark of the tree directly above her head imbedding the violating blade deep within the tree's mold. Intensity filled the air once more as the man took rancorous steps forward beligerently assessing the young woman in front of him as the glow of his eyes singed at his lids and her exposed self.

"How DARE you!!" he bellowed leaning in to strike once more at the tree uncomfortably close to her head. "How DARE YOU!!" he continued, the accusation becoming a heated mantra in his head as he continually thrust as the tree's thick trunk to emphasize his words as though he meant to make the large creature fall from its high perch back down to the earth.

He swung blindly hardly caring if he struck her and perhaps hoping he would yet willing himself not to all the same. A plague of forgotten emotions settled upon his nerves hindering him from reaching his target as his mind intended to do. Anger, rage; it was all shadowing the confusion and hurt that imbedded itself deep within his gaze as he watched her cowering figure avoid the slashes of his strikes.

"Why?!" he demanded stilling his weapon momentarily to await a response as her fingers groped the ground seeking refuge from his fury. "Why are you mocking me?!"

The girl shook her head incessantly denying the accusation as she felt her fingers clench around something long and solid.

"Stop it!!" Kenshin heard himself yell as his katana lashed out once more as though of its own accord.

He watched as she ducked back into herself to avoid the attack before resuming her refusal shaking her head as violently as she could without injuring herself too much.

"Stop it!!" he commanded dashing the dirt at her feet with his blade just inches from her bare toes and then striking again at the trunk above her head, but she didn't stop.

And the longer he impulsively tried to force her into conceding, the longer he threatened her with his blade, the more real she appeared to him. The soft contours of her terrified face glowed against the distant light of the campfire. Utilizing that light, he was able to note and divulge in every similar feature that graced her face from the shape of her brow down to the tiny scar that leaked against the corner of her eye.

"How dare you mock me; mock... HER!!" he nearly sobbed in the back of his throat as he ceased his offensive passes. He kicked at the dirt angrily barely missing her. "Why would you mock her? She was innocent!!" Again he dashed at the dirt trying to hide the obvious pain in his voice with his violent actions. "Wasn't it enough that they killed her?"

Slowly, the girl's eyes rose to meet his as the faintest slip of compassion dismissed itself into her cerulean orbs. She held his gaze for a moment before he shunned her away and clenched his vibrant eyes shut and away from her prying stare.

"She's dead and yet you would still find it in yourself to mock her memory?" he hissed bitterly tightening his grip on his katana.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she retorted calmly and evenly straightening her posture once more now that he had stopped his advances.

His countenance slowly lifted revealing a set of flashing, amber eyes that settled upon Kaoru with the same chilling grace one would accuse their lover of possessing. She fidgetted under his scrutiny awaiting what he would say next. Even as he corrected his own slumped position, she expectantly watched him as a sort of reverance came about his features. And then he spoke.

"Of course you don't. I shouldn't expect you to." He paused drawing his body around so that he directly faced her and lifted his weapon above his head, the tip nipping at the very edge of her yukata. "The dead are never aware of their compromises."

Kaoru's eyes widened as she watched the play of motion arc the assassin's sword down toward her head before quickly reacting and grabbing the thick stick to her side and parrying his blow instantaneously, knocking his blade to the side and away from her prone body before taking advantage of his initial shock to shoot the edge back against his ribcage effectively countering him for the moment.

His pain never even registered in his awareness as he turned back to her dully shaking his katana in his throbbing grip. Returning his cold eyes back to her startled form, he realized many things that licked and knotted at his memory and his sense of duty. It would not end tonight with the battle already transgressing upon his emotions.

"You will die soon," he said sedately to contrast his earlier passion. His voice was low and husky barely nicking at the glacial atmosphere around them. "Soon." He lowered his sword, sheathing it silently. "Be aware. Soon."

Kaoru stared into the mass of fire-eatten gold that protruded from her attacker's stony gaze. The brazen fury slowly seemed to ebb the longer he watched her liable form laying disposed in the arms of her protective tree until the slightest traces of a new, daunting emotion began to mix with the vices of his anger and oppression. And she wondered as minutes wore on and the pair merely watched the other with interest similar to intrigue. Kaoru felt her lips faintly move as a question formulated in her mind seeking to be answered, but in the moment it took her to find her voice and blink herself into vocal ability he disappeared like an apparition taking his ghostly leave in the night.

Before she was even left to ponder over his sudden disappearance though, a shout caught her ear from the campsite shocking her into reality as she was called for frantically.

"Kaoru-san!!" a male voice shouted across the area. "Kaoru-san!!"

Stumbling over her ripped and tattered yukata and struggling to stay upon her feet, Kaoru moved toward the voice hardly paying any mind to the ache in her scarred and agitated foot.

"Natsuo-san!!" she cried fervently, making her way back towards the camp and her refuge in the lone man left alive in the brigade besides herself. "Natsuo-san!!"

Rushed footsteps came to meet her half-way until she found herself supported by a masculine figure that soon swept her into strong, worried arms back toward the camp bidding her to rest. "Kaoru-san, daijobu?"

"I'm fine," she panted against his shoulder as he carried her deftly through the brush and set her against a log situated across the fire.

He left momentarily to retrieve the medications kit from a nearby tent and set to bandaging her injuries. His breathing was harshly ragged as he hurried to care for her wounds only slightly mindful to apply due gentility to his actions. "We must hurry," he stated as he finished his patching on her leg. "Everyone's dead, the enemy forces may return soon and we must leave before they do."

Quickly, he stood and left to fetch a pair of horses that were still lingering in the makeshift paddock on the outskirts of the camp before returning and rushing to saddle the animals as fast as he was able to attaching certain items to the tack as he went.

"Natsuo-san," Kaoru said calmly reaching for his arm when he made to grab the medical kit beside her. He ignored her address and continued with his actions as she shifted closer to him from her spot on the ground. "Natsuo-san, please..."

"Hurry, Kaoru-san," he pleaded holding an arm out to lift her from her reposed seat in the dirt. "They'll be back any minute now!"

"No!" she started forcefully knocking him from his eager frenzy to leave. He stared blankly at her, a horrified edge gleaning in the corners of his eyes as he waited for her to continue. "A group did not attack us."

"What?" he stammered lowering himself to crouch beside her, his uniform crinkling slightly under the pressure of the position. "But then, what happened to our men?"

Kaoru shook her head calmly. "One man came," she began looking out into the dark expanse of the forest. "An assassin I think."

Natsuo followed her gaze and saw nothing as he fidgetted on the balls of his feet trying to decide what precautions to take. "An assassin?" His voice shook as he continued to glance around the vicinity. "What happened to him? Where is he?"

A thoughtful look graced her features as her eyes persistantly watched the folds of foliage and brush beyond the camp cast shadows on the dreary floor of the woods. And then she answered, her voice taking a sing-song quality that shocked her lone companion. "He left."

"What? Why would he just leave?"

Again Kaoru allowed her tone to abide by soft, almost maternal qualities as she answered, her brow furrowing slightly as realization seemed to instill itself in her mind for the first time that night. "He left... because he was sad; I think."

Natsuo shook his head violently willing himself to make sense of the woman's dazed babble. "Kaoru-san, we need to leave," he said with a calmer demeanor extending his arms to lift her from her spot on the ground. "He will probably come back for us if you did indeed encounter him."

His words seemed to ring a truth within the young woman as she nodded her head and allowed herself to be lifted into her companion's grasp as he took her to her waiting mount. "Yes, he will come back," she whispered against his shoulder pricking at the older man's hearing. "Soon."

A few lengths away into the shadowing brush of the forest, a crimson head bobbed slowly in abject agreement. Soon, indeed. His sheathed knuckles brushed lightly against the soft bristles of his mustache as his lips gently made to kiss the round, golden object he clutched tightly in his fist. Arisen memories or not, he would not fail his duty. The true source of his ache was dead, and this new copy would not provoke his mastered suppression of feeling or self-control. On the morrow he would find her.

The thought brought him to grip the ring in his palm tighter.

And on the morrow he would kill her. Whether or not she was an exact replica of his past love, it didn't matter...

There could be no witnesses.

* * *

Next chapter:

Speak No Evil

(A/N) This time I decided not to leave you with a cliffie type ending in case I have another huge gap in updating which could be very likely.. sigh. Stupid school. Anyway, please review, and in case anyone is wondering where Natsuo came from, he was the guy that Kenshin was planning on killing last so that he could get information on the position of the Shiminkakumei. Yeay!! They met up... not in the best way, but they met. And they'll do it again next chapter too.

REVIEWER RESPONSES:

-Strawberry Shortcake of Doom- Thanks so much for reviewing!! Hmmm.. many questions that I cannot answer... yet. I can answer a coiuple though. Kaoru does have scars from the fire and later I'll describe them better in the fic, but they pertain mostly to her right foot, which she is unable to completely use normally which makes it hard for her to walk. And no, she's not Iwasaki-san's mistress... you'll have to find out more about 'them' later on

- Saiyan Serpent- Well... apparently, Ken-san didn't take the encounter very well, and Kaoru was unaware of who he is. Heh heh, gotta keep the angst I suppose. Thanks so so so much for all the reviews and I hope the chapter was exciting enough for you.

- Kat- Hmm, I understand your confusion, but I believe that's the beauty of the plot. Kenshin comes back to a certain section of the government he believes will help him achieve his justice for Kaoru against the corrupt areas of the government that supposedly killed Kaoru.

- Psychotic Tanuki- Hehehehe, I always wondered about the idea of Kenshin with a beard, so I decided to incorporate it in here. Anyway, I hope to produce some kind of image soon with Kenshin as he is supposed to look in this fic with the new scar at his lip and the beard. However, I don't know if he'll be keeping the facial hair.

- kouri- gobbles cookies greedily Ahhh, that was good. Thanks for the support, I really needed it and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long with such a huge cliffy. Hope this made up for it!!

- Sketchess1- Ya really think this has potential to be one of the great RK stories out there? Hmmm... that would be a dream come true. Thanks for helping me keep my spirits up. I really needed that!!

- Espi- Is Matsuyo good or bad? I don't know, bwahahaha... I guess we'll have to see. When I really think about it, I can't come up with much of a list of fics that have Kenhin revert permanently to Battousai either. I suppose we could start a trend though, ne?

-Jane, communist dust bunny, nobody, Foxterr, Musoka1, usukeurameshi, Kindred, ken/bat fan, anniall4, maru, , echo, stephchan, wolf, Bokken of Doom- Thanks to all of you who reviewed, I really appreciate the support and I hope I can get the next chapter out to you all soon!!


	6. Chapter 5: Speak No Evil

(A/N)- It seems like these chapters just keep getting longer and longer. Did anyone notice my little chapter title scheme? "Hear no evil; see no evil; speak no evil." Thanks again for all the feedback, it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to know that people are actually reading and enjoying my story. I think I'm gonna end up making this story a tad shorter than I first intended though merely because I think it will be a bit too drawn out otherwise, and I have bazillions of ideas for other fics that I want to start on but don't have the time to write.

Also, for some reason, every time I upload something to see my word count or see how a story looks in format, it seems that believes I also want to update. So I apologize to those that saw my fic up a week ago and thought it was updated. I'm really truly sorry.

Disclaimer: If I owned Kenshin, he (1.) wouldn't have died like that cries (2.) would have had many more children with Kaoru (3.) would have had a great relationship with ALL his kids (4.) would be taller. Sorry, I know it's supposed to be comical and ironic, but I just wish he were taller since I'm tall and... yeah.

**A Bittersweet Elegy**

**Chapter 5: Speak No Evil**

_"Truly, to tell lies is dishonorable; but when the truth entails tremendous ruin, to speak dishonorably is pardonable."_

_-Sophocles (Creusa)_

Katsura Matsuyo rubbed his temple gently as he sat behind his large, imported desk and watched the shadowed figure in front of him. An eerie sort of silence passed between the two as employer and assassin waited for the other to break the building tension that foreshadowed an ill report. Katsura decided after a few more moments wasted to take the initiative himself and raised his gaze to meet the blank, dark one of his companion.

"You killed the woman didn't you?" he asked quelling the anger he felt rising unbidden within him at the thought.

Kenshin shifted on his feet, the anxiety in his body language speaking fully and clearly to those who had learned how to read him after years of being in his presence. "No."

A thick eyebrow arched on Katsura's face while he registered this new information. "Then she's alive and well?"

Hesitation. "Yes."

"And you have the information about where the Shiminkakumei have been hiding themselves," he rose from his seat and stepped toward a cabinet behind him, depositing a file back into its allotted space. "It obviously isn't where we've been guessing. Tell me what you found out."

With a stiff jaw and a nervous feeling settling in the pit of his stomach, Kenshin answered, "I don't know."

Katsura visibly stiffened, his shoulders straightening his back. "Come again?"

"I was unable to attain any information during the mission," Kenshin answered averting his eyes below the cover of his thick, red bangs.

"Mm." The elder man turned mindfully keeping his gaze on the busy platform of his desk all the while as he reclaimed his seat leaning back into its plushness and fixing his arms across the armrests.

"What happened, Himura?"

The question was tense and forboding holding no room for loose answers, not that the hitokiri planned on giving any. An indirect explanation was just as poignant as a direct one sometimes and afforded less intimate details which he was feeling evasive towards.

"The woman is alive and well, just as you instructed me to leave her," he said slowly watching for any play of emotion to cross Katsura's face before continuing. The man just watched him in stoic silence. "However, just as I had killed the last of the unnecessary officers- the ones I did not plan on questioning- the woman saw me."

Again he waited as his employer's stare fixed irritably on him for a moment before looking away out the window as he turned his chair. "Go on."

"She fled. I pursued. I suppose it's that simple," he answered as though it was obvious.

"And yet she's still alive."

"...hai."

"And she saw you kill?"

"...hai."

"And she knows you were alone?"

"...hai."

"And she saw your face?"

A pause of silence deafened by the monotonous ticking of the solitary clock on Katsura's desk filled the room. "I don't think so."

"Why not?" Matsuyo stood turning the corner of his desk to sit leisurely on its front platform.

"I believe she would have had slightly different reactions had she seen me," he nearly whispered, lowering his gaze once more behind the confines of his bangs wishing to be relieved of his companion's disconcerting stare.

Katsura nearly started at the vague reply rubbing a lone hand against his jaw line roughly before allowing it to collapse once more into the space of his lap. "I don't understand. Why would she have reacted differently to you?" His gaze narrowed slightly, his thick brows furrowing in the center awaiting his explanation.

Thinking quickly, Kenshin answered, his tone remotely distant as he practically breathed his words out in desolute constitution. "Have you ever looked death in the face with no object or shadow to conceal it?" He glanced at the man as he remained motionless silently urging him to continue. "To see the face of death, your own death, is such an experience that haunts every unconscious thought of a person's mind to the extent of complete paralysis, to the extent of almost serene calmness. It's an obvious expression, one I never saw her portray."

He watched as Katsura nodded vaguely before reaching for the clock on his desk and quickly checking the time. "I suppose you gave that as reason enough to avoid killing her."

Kenshin nodded averting his eyes out the window to the chilling silhouettes that danced against a black backdrop.

A short chuckle resonated in the room as his employer continued. "And I suppose you even felt so guilty as to leave the man you were planning on questioning as her guide back."

No reply.

"Mm," he chortled briefly under his breath glancing at the shorter man across the room. "You always were a good man, Himura. Such a pity. Even if she didn't see your face, I can't afford to have her wandering around. Finish the job. Tonight. I expect they'll be coming into the city soon enough if they started out soon after your encounter. I predict they'll be heading to the Kyoto General Defences building just on the edge of town. Meet them there and finish it."

He gave a dismissive wave of his hand as he once again stood and circled his desk to situate himself once more in the large, plush seat nestled behind a short stack of paperwork. He didn't even need to turn his head to know that in the next instant, his hitokiri was gone.

* * *

Her head lolled forward suddenly knocking her from her fitful doze. They had been traveling all day and far past sunset into the evening Kaoru noticed as the faint lights of the distant fort began to draw nearer to her fatigued eyes. Neither she nor Natsuo had slept since they'd first started and her pity for the older man only grew as the time and distance leered on; her riding and day-dreaming astride a calm, composed gelding while her companion carefully stayed on alert watching the surrounding brush with an eerie eye, his mount constantly cutting and dancing temperately. She'd offered to switch horses with him more than once and each time he had resisted her insisting on not forcing such a spooked animal upon her. He had even tried to persuade her to fully lean upon her horse's neck and sleep assuring her he would keep the horses calm and be on alert for danger at all times.

Now with the fortress within sight, she was glad she had denied him or she may still have been slumbering against her mount's withers. The great expanse of time awake also afforded her the perfect opportunity to think. Most assasins feared the idea of leaving a witness alive, and she fully understood why of course. Witnesses were almost as perilous as traitors. For the time being she posed no threat to him, but the moment she came into custody of more influential authorities, her life would no longer be of little value. Already she was as good as dead, she thought vaguely to herself, he had said it himself.

Assasins. Kenshin was once an assasin, she remembered. In fact, he was the ultimate assasin, the revered -and completely feared- Battousai. A hitokiri by nature as they would call him, yet his true personality showed none of the attributes his rumours and legends portrayed of a killing expert. Kenshin had been Kenshin; sweet, haunted Kenshin.

And she loved him.

Even through death she loved him as she realized she always would. A bittersweet smile rose to her lips as she imagined her life two years ago plagued with a ruckus-filled home with friends she still kept in touch with, and she remembered all the trials they had endured together and sometimes for one another. One particular instance stood out drastically in her mind eating at the very recesses of her memory. A tired, distraught youth to be exact whom harbored the utmost hate for her precious rurouni, and very warrantedly too.

Enishi.

He had been driven mad by his sister's death at Kenshin's hands and her presence in his home seemed to invoke a sort of solemn acceptance within the young man to understand Tomoe's death. Perhaps many madmen and assasins held similar attributes of weakness. It was obviously the only reason why she was still alive though she doubted how long that fact would remain untarnished.

Something had been triggered in that man she realized as she remembered the somber glow in his golden stare as he issued her partial leave. Had the circumstances been extremely different, she thought, she may have stood and actually given the man a comforting embrace or a few soothing words. She'd seen that same light so many times before in her own rurouni's gaze: fear, anguish, regret. He regretted something, and because of that he had been unable to kill her.

Maybe he had suffered the consequences of a departed lover similar to the narrative she had been told by Kenshin. An unforgivable mistake and death by one's own hands. Torturous. She could never even begin to imagine such an excruciating experience.

She sighed softly to herself glancing upward at the tops of the overhanging trees as a few ravens scattered from their lofty perches. Ahead her horse's ears pricked at the movement, his eyes wavering between the forward, dirt road and the flitting shadows in the forest beside them. Wearily, she averted her drooping eyes to the side where the gelding had often glanced peering nonchalantly into the thick foliage. The slight glint of metal caught her eye and she drew in a hasty breathe as an onyx figure charged from the cover of the brush.

Kenshin stalked carefully beside the two mounted riders mindful to keep his figure low and out of their immediate sight. Should they have eagerly searched the perimeter around them, he would have easily been detected as a mass of crimson hair spilling against the blank, dark backdrop. The woman was there lulled agaist her saddle and fighting against fatigue as the officer warily kept watch on the area ahead waiting for those distant lights of the fort to draw nearer. Had either of them paid any attention to their horses' reactions they would have already been aware of his impending presence.

Absently, he watched the girl as her head involuntarily sagged forward against its weight until she quickly caught herself before she capsized her position on the horse. She was due to fall fast asleep any moment now and he knew it though they were easily within eight minutes walking distance from the fort, two if the aforementioned were able to spur their horses into a much brisker pace. Lord, she reminded him of her... the gentle cascade of her ebony hair and the soft, molded features of her delicate brow and jaw. Her lips even formed the same imperceptible "o" when she sat idly watching nothing and yet taking everything in one moment at a time. Lord, he really did miss her. He missed her so much that even his targets were begin to take her very shape and form.

He sighed. He had already reminisced too much and now his focus was wavering. The job needed to be finished. It was time to act. Deftly, he ventured in front of the small, sauntering party and sat in waiting accidentally startling a group of cackling fowl rested in the bows above him. Then he watched with calculating eyes as they advanced and he fixed his target readily on the leader, the man astride the prancing horse whose eyes refused to leave the area ahead of him to search the perimeter. His muscles bunched in sinewy apprehension as they neared.

And then he struck... quickly, blindy... as the horses reared and dislodged their riders before galloping into the immense darkness of the woods toward the scorchingly distant lights of the fort beyond.

* * *

A lone, young man stood against the parlor columns situated outside the large, affluent Kyoto General Defenses building watching the sparse glimmer of the distant stars. His dark brown hair swayed gently in a passing breeze ruffling it from its usual, uniform combing pattern and sweeping it across his soft, light brown eyes. He was a handsome man, stately in stature and well developed in build neither thin nor brutely, not tall nor short with the visage of defined cheek bones and angular features with only the barest hint of a harsh browline. Both educationally well versed and handsome, he was the epitome of charm among the ladies and the republic.

In fact, at the present moment he awaited the arrival of his lady though she was not due to arrive until the following day.

A comforting hand placed itself atop his shoulder and offered him a soothing squeeze. "She'll be here safe and sound tomorrow. Just hold out until tomorrow, Iwasaki-san."

He nodded slightly glancing back at the source of the new voice and expressing the barest of smiles. "I suppose you're right, sir, but I still can't help but be impatient. I haven't seen her in so long and I have so many things to discuss with her."

"Hai, I know," the older man agreed stepping up beside his younger companion and folding his arms behind his back, his thick, gray mustache twitching ever so slightly at the corner. "I wish you luck."

"Arigato, I appreciate your support."

The man chuckled slightly giving Iwasaki a short nod before turning to enter the building once more. "Come in soon. You'll only catch a cold out here waiting."

"Aa..." He shifted uncomfortably on the balls of his feet still surveying the space before him beyond the tall, metal gate and into the forest.

"Don't worry, she'll come," came the disembodied voice behind him.

He gave a faint grin, turning his head to meet the other man's gaze. "Thanks again, Yamagata-san."

His only response was a brief nod before the governor turned and walked away with short, clipped steps down the tiled corridor.

Iwasaki sighed returning his gaze once more to the outlining silhouettes of the black woods and the shy twinkle of the overhanging stars that sparkled faintly against their dead pallet. The muffled clatter of distant hooves instantly grabbed his attention as the slight rhythm slowly drew closer to the vicinity until a pair of geldings stood frothing and prancing at the barred gate pawing and snorting for notice.

"You," he said commandingly pointing at one of the guards situated just outside his positioned balcony. "Bring in those horses."

The man acted immediately jogging quickly up to the gate and leading the pair of barren horses into the courtyard and back to his superior, holding them as the man carefully surveyed them from a distance. Carefully, Iwasaki descended the lateral staircase and made his way beside the first steed noticing the manner in which he had been hastily saddled and attached with close to no necessities before moving around to the second horse whom had calmed considerably more than his counterpart.

Again the tack was sloppily fastened hardly calling for a safe riding environment though the cause for such immediate actions was unknown. He checked the girth noticing its alarming looseness and the way the saddle had slid sideways almost completely upon the horse's ribcage. He undid the girth and righted the saddle atop the horse's spine not even flinching when the horse threw up its head and shook its full, sorrel coat. Only when he drew his hands back did he notice the silky texture crafted atop the pommel. His fingers immediately grasped it, his eyes widening in disbelief as he traced his pads against the midnight blue ribbon he held delicately in his hand.

Kaoru's ribbon.

His brown eyes shot upward darting amongst the shadows and silhouettes that played particular pictures in the surrounding areas giving no hint or clue of any advancing sources, only a dreary feeling of foreboding that loomed speculatively above the heads on the men standing outside the General Defenses building.

"Saddle your horses!" he shouted to the small group of men that had gathered around him at the approach of the frantic horses. "Hurry!"

At once the men dispursed rushing toward the nearby stable and grabbing random horses and tack. Iwasaki grabbed the sorrel in front of him, his fist still clutching at the blue ribbon that had once been tied loosely around the saddle's pommel. He then began to quickly fasten the buckles and gear before casting himself quickly astride the gelding, another officer mirroring his actions atop the less mild horse and they only waited a moment until the thunder of distant hooves met them from behind before racing out the gate and into the stony night.

* * *

She was nearly paralyzed with fear the moment before she even came to terms with her frail body awkwardly meeting the ground. He was here. The demon had already come to finish his duties with her. Soon, so very soon. Her eyes shown with terrified tears as she tried to make out the outline of the stiff figure lowly advancing in the distance toward another form that quickly scurried backward from its place on the ground, the coppery scent of blood filling her nose as she realized that Natsuo was injured and about to meet his end. Her throat was dry and scratchy as she thought to scream out her fears to him, but no words would formulate in her starch, languid mouth.

And then the faint glint of a sword being raised drifted into her sight and that gut wrenching fear was encompassed by the dull pang of sorrow as the item was swung and a fresh, muffled cry was issued just beyond the erect figure that held the descended, dripping blade. She wanted to cry, but the tears refused to inch from her disbelieving eyes.

Even as the soft rustle of fabric began to draw nearer to her prostrate figure laying prone in the dusty expanse of the desolate road, she could not manage a sound, not an action besides the fixated stare she kept on the crumpled form of her companion lying a few yards away. It wasn't until she heard the feet stop only a length away from her and the tingling dust her assailant's footsteps created tickle her nose that she was aware of another being watching her methodically behind carefully hooded eyes. Only then did the seriousness of the situation register in her mind and the brunt of her emotions hit her squarely in the face as her jaw gawked and yearned to produce some sort of sound.

And she screamed an agonizing cry that would have brought many men to the basis of pity for the resigned young woman who seemed really no more than a girl, a child even, caught in the uproar of some heinous crime that failed to even concern her; and it hurt so very, very deeply.

"Why?" she cried, tears slowly seeping from her eyes as she sobbed in the dirt. "He wasn't a threat to you." Her accusations flew before she even had the chance to think her words over. "He didn't have to die. It was only supposed to be me... only me!"

"It had to be done," he whispered barely loud enough for her to hear and sounding more as though he was trying to assure himself than make her understand. "He would have died last night anyway if it weren't for you."

"No," she cried curling into her sitting form and hugging her arms to herself. "He could have lived. He had a family."

He swallowed hard watching keenly as her defiant figure slowly began to wilt before his very eyes. "It's too late now," he said slowly raising his sword arm the bereft of degrees from the ground and watching the dull drip of blood slide from the tip to the waiting ground below as he anticipated her next words.

"And I suppose now you'll kill me, too," she began turning her head to meet his gaze with all the temerity she could muster within her shaken and crested form. "You'll kill me even though I've done nothing to you."

He hesitated a second before drawing his sword carefully above his head. "Yes, I will. It is my duty."

She merely stared at him a moment, her deep azure eyes grasping for his description in the placid obscurity of the darkness, but all she could conjure were the deep reflections of pallid gold sifting in a maze of stale gray and the outline of his long hair as it casually swayed in the passing breeze.

"And what is your duty?" she nearly spat inching faintly back from him as her fingers grasped for something in the dirt road only to clasp around the jagged form of a fair sized rock.

"To carry out my assignments as an assassin," he parried taking note of her slowly retreating figure and glad for the cover of night that hid both her finer features from his acute eyes and the majority of his figure from her own.

Kaoru sneered in mock disgust trying to hide the pity she felt for this man back in the recesses of her mind all the while careful to support her undaunted front. She would show death no remorse as he would show her no mercy. "You didn't answer me," she nearly whispered gazing back at him with a storming expression. "You merely rephrased the definition of duty. What is your duty as an assasin?"

"It doesn't matter," he replied huskily. "It won't matter to you in a moment." He thought for an instant noting the offended glint that sprang to her eyes at his comment. "But if you insist on knowing, my duty has never changed. I want to bring peace to my country and I do it the only way an assasin like me knows how."

"In death," she calmly continued, her expression softening by the smallest of calibers. "None of you are very different I suppose."

In the dark, she faintly made out the motion of his shoulders lifting as he shrugged. "Maybe, but for now, it doesn't matter, there can be no witnesses."

Her sapphire eyes seemed to glimmer momentarily in understanding before she closed them at the sound of his words, her head lowering to rest against her chest. "I suppose not," she mused never lifting her head as she distantly heard his sleeves shift minutely as his weapon was raised the least of degrees to make for a clean strike. She could almost laugh bitterly to herself as she uttered her last words to her assailant. "It's ironic though... I always believed that a sword was meant to protect, not kill."

That philosophy, he had heard it before and it had haunted his dreams many sleepless nights in the past few years. 'A sword that protects... it was the style my father taught, the style my father passed on to me,' he remembered hearing her say as she practiced and trained Yahiko. His mouth suddenly ran dry and his throat became bare and scratchy in his breaths as he fought to breathe through either his nose or mouth, but the air only came in staggared pants that rasped against the backs of his teeth.

The sword that protects.

A minute wore on and neither being moved, one awaiting death and the other pleading for the ability to deal it out. But death did not come and in the eerie chill of the languid night Kaoru could very nearly feel the pulse of the man in front of her reverberate through the very ground they tread upon. Still he did not move as the minute glanced on toward two and she began to wonder as she opened her eyes and raised them slightly toward the motionless figure before her. He was still only watching her, but perhaps that was enough to forestall his movement in his eyes.

"You're shaking," she whispered so softly, so casually that he nearly retched from his own self loathing at what he was pushing himself to do. Again her voice came this time fractionally clearer, her head lifting slightly more to peer at him thoughtfully through the darkness. "You're trembling."

He took a hasty step back, his body betraying his actions as he forced himself to remain intimidating and refrain from dropping his katana.

She openly stared at him, her eyes confused and curiously sympathetic. "You don't really mean to kill me do you?" she asked hesitantly watching his body closely.

"Of course I do," he sneered, the quiver in his voice unmistakable as he silently cursed his sudden fear.

"But you don't want to... do you?" her voice broke off in a whimsical whisper as her hand slowly drew itself to her fluttering and aggrivated stomach.

He released a ragged breath sputtering in practically a half sob that was neither a cry nor a laugh. "It doesn't matter!" he very nearly yelled grasping for his slipping composure. "Once a hitokiri, always a hitokiri!!" he recited forcing his arm down and drawing the blade at an alarming rate toward her prone skull, but she just sat there and watched never flinching and slowly drawing her eyes shut and softly uttering in a whisper almost imperceptible to his keen ears:

"...Kenshin."

And in the moment it took her to finish the last syllable she felt the sweep of air rush by her face as the blade inadvertantly changed its course and a dull cry issued from the man in front of her an instant later as her eyes danced open and stared in awe at the hitokiri who now crouched a few yards away from her nursing a gash on his left leg.

She didn't know what had forced her to say that or more importantly why it had assuaged her attacker's strike, but in the wary calm that accompanied the passing of the storm, she felt relief flood her as she made out the barest of trembles from the assasin sitting disposed in front of her as they watched each other's outline in the slightest forms of light given by the passing of the awning stars, and then he spoke, his voice lower than it had been before and ragged in broken breaths.

"No, I don't want to kill you."

Despite herself, Kaoru smiled softly and almost invisibly in the placid darkness. "I know."

She barely caught the sound of his quaking breath and in a moment of empathy began to reach a hand out to the strange man whom no longer posed her any threat, his sword discarded far off to his side in the gravel, just as the distant clamber of militant, beating hooves met their ears simultaneously accompanied by the frenzied cries of several men searching for fallen comrades.

The hitokiri threw his head back to glare at the on coming forces and in habit moved to reclaim his sword. Seeing his intentions, Kaoru likewise acted on instinct wishing to preserve the safety of her advancing friends from this fatal man as well as the well being of the haunted person himself. Grasping the rock she still fingered in her hand, she thrust her arm forward without thought or aim hurtling the stone at the assasin and deftly knocking him in the head with excessive force.

There was a dull cry as the man jerked forward upon impact before falling limply onto the ground face huddled into his thick hair and gi. She almost sighed in relief not worrying about the possible consequences leaving an immobilized hitokiri could have on him and herself. As the battalion drew nearer she crawled beside her attacker, a man whom her fear for had dwindled considerably within the past few minutes. The approaching torches lit his coloring to her eyes and she noted his auburn hair with great interest. It was darker than Kenshin's, but still curiously conveyed the same sense of death as his had when he reverted to his hitokiri persona. She hadn't had the chance to even begin brushing his hair from his face when strong arms urgently lifted her from her prostrate position on the ground and held her against a toned, warm chest.

"Kaoru?" a deep, worried voice sounded close to her ear shaking her from her reveries and relaying her back to the present.

"Iwasaki-san!!" she breathed in relief returning the embrace upon recognition only causing her rescuer to hold her all the tighter.

"Daijobu?" he asked anxiously releasing her slightly and going over her figure quickly to assess the damages.

"I'm fine," she almost laughed as she hugged him back to her. "I'm ok."

Iwasaki eagerly continued to hold her glad for the feel of her safely being in his arms as he smelled the faint traces of aloeswood and plum blossoms radiating in her hair. He glanced at the dead body lying a few feet away and then the unconscious form of another man lying practically at their feet, a bloody sword mere inches from his finger tips.

"Are you sure he didn't hurt you?" he asked her scowling at the heedless person and nudging him roughly with his toe.

"Don't do that," she softly scolded gazing awkwardly at the man as well seeing traces of blood seep from his gashed leg and the small dent in the back of his head. "He didn't hurt me."

"What did he do?" Iwasaki demanded his bloodlust growing at the thought of his Kaoru being harmed.

"Nothing!" she answered hastily noting that her silence would only issue the man's death. When her companion's raging gaze came to question her further she felt her jaw working to formulate a plausible explanation for his presence and upon finding one, she slowly began. "He saved me."

"He... saved you?" Iwasaki queried waiting for a hint of uncertainty to pass her expression, but she remained steadfast.

"Yes, we were attacked and he saved me before the assasin could get to me. And then you came," she emphasized lying her head against his chest assuringly; "and the assasin left."

Her explanation seemed to satiate him as his hard, brown eyes softened considerably and he swept her small form into his arms carrying her back to his horse. "Alright then. You," he delegated nodding at a few officers standing idly around Natsuo's disposed body. "Pick that man up and bring him back to the fort. Make sure you call a doctor and have his wounds cleaned and examined." He glanced back down at Kaoru briefly before adding, "He's a hero."

She hardly heard though, for the moment she was assured that the man's safety would be arranged she allowed herself to fall into a fitless slumber all through the journey back and even still through the night. She was somehow quite proud. Possibly, she had the chance to change yet another man's life, to transform another assasin, to accomplish something important...

For Kenshin.

* * *

Next Chapter:

Melancholy Joy

(A/N)- Bwahaha... I'm fairly pleased with how I've set this up now. Heh heh, I'm sure ya'll will enjoy it. The chapter was a bit... melodramatic I guess, but it couldn't really be helped. Anyway, I'm a review hound that feds religiously off of reviews. That means (ideas)+(review responses) me not quitting the story as I have a tendency to do. I love you all though for reading and I hope and pray to be able to get the next chapter out soon though I've come to another section where I don't have any planning done whatsoever. Outlining time. Till next time... REVIEW!!

REVIEWER RESPONSES:

- Sen-chan, Pyro Raven, Steph-chan, Misha, Katie, Espi, May, cat, PianZoe, The Girl Who Cried Oro, Jewelz- Thank you ALL so so much for reviewing, I greatly appreciate it!!

- Bokken of Doom- What you don't like the idea of Kenshin with facial hair? lol me too. I'll get rid of it though, I just have a certain purpose for it that I'm waiting to follow through with.

- Ariel- No, Kaoru didn't lose her memory. She doesn't recognize Kenshin because she couldn't see him because it was too dark and his back was facing whatever light she could have used to see him. Plus he now has a beard and he's hardly said anything so she can't recognize his voice, especially since she hasn't heard him for two years and he's speaking in different tones than she's used to hearing from Kenshin. Hope that cleared things up.

- Linay- ...wow. I'm star-struck. Ya know that feeling you get when you meet a celebrity or something along those lines... yeah I'm feelin' that right about now. It's not everyday that your favorite author reviews your work and says it's awesome no less. Thank you so, so, so, so much I love you and I hope you continue to read and review!!

- Psychotic Tanuki- Heh heh, I enjoy writing out his pyschoness very much. It's rather entertaining. In the next chapter he actually comes to terms with her being alive and she'll be finding out about our dear rurouni... later. Mwahahaha... lol

- Kouri- rolls down hill holding her cookie jars trying to escape her chocolate crazed family. MINE, MY CYBER COOKIES!! lol, I'm really happy that you liked the chapter since it was insanely difficult to write. It really makes me feel better.Phantoms of reality... I like that wordage, and no, the truth will indeed come out in time.

- Strawberry Shortcake of Doom- I got this chapter out faster than the other just for you!! Thanks for reviewing and please stop shaving my Kenshin draws on little hairs with a sharpie He'll be needing that beard soon . lol

- Angrybee- Oh she'll definently be pissed when everything is pieced together, I assure you that much. Thanks for everything!!

Thanks again to all those who are reading and please, please, please, pleaaaasssse REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!


	7. Chapter 6: Melancholy Joy

(A/N) Hmmmm... this updating thing just isn't going very well lately. I really need to get a better system especially if I plan on starting another fic soon. sigh Time really is so expensive. I'm gonna try to keep this short.

Disclaimer: "Hey, Brain? What are we goin ta do today?" "The same thing we do ever day, Pinky: try to take over Rurouni Kenshin!!'' (Sadly, this little ploy doesn't even belong to me either, I found it in another story and I thought it was so cute I had to use it too, sorry)

**A Bittersweet Elegy**

**Chapter 6: Melancholy Joy**

"_In my heart's sequestered chamber lies truths stripped of poet's gloss; words alone are vain and vacant and my heart is mute."_

_-"Sing Me to Heaven_"

A slight ring accompanied her immediate awareness blunting her senses and causing an unwarranted stir in her abilities to take in her surroundings. A deep throb pulsated at the corner of Kaoru's temple but besides the aggravating feeling she felt sorely rested and fairly satiated despite the slight discomfort. Confusion slowly settled upon her as the feel of her bedding and her position on the futon refused to correlate with her usual habits as she stretched minimally on her spot.

Generous traces of light seeped from behind a pair of crimson curtains thwarting the day's bright rays and tenderly stinging at her eyes when they eventually opened and groped in accordance with her fingers for something substantial and familiar to settle on in her growing haze and awareness. A quiet knock sounded behind her introducing the presence of another at the foreign styled door before it was slowly opened and a young maid stepped gingerly in with a small tray graced with a cup and a kettle of brewed tea. When the girl caught sight of her stirring mistress, she smiled before advancing forward and placing the tray beside the rumpled futon.

"Afternoon miss," she gently said, her eyes averted but her smile still genuinely plastered on her face.

"Afternoon?" Kaoru managed as she struggled to grasp any references as to where she was or why for that matter.

"Mhm. You've slept yourself far past morning," the maid continued setting about the room to find the garnments Kaoru would be wearing that day.

Kaoru groaned to herself still grasping for the strength to fight her wearing fatigue and remain postrate. She glanced at the girl as she laid a kimono casually at the foot of the futon with a matching obi before gesturing towards Kaoru to call her over.

"Let me help you change," she softly said kneeling beside the elder girl and helping to remove her disshevelled yukata. "You had quite a night, miss. I'm surprised you woke up even this late. I might have expected you about a few hours later." She folded the yukata and reached for the kimono, helping Kaoru to her knees so that she could properly fasten the obi. "You gave us all quite a scare."

Before Kaoru could comment, another knock from the door interrupted her thoughts as a head cautiously peeked through looking for someone. Soon the man spotted the pair on the floor, the maid gently brushing Kaoru's hair into a ponytail, and stepped further into the room, his light brown eyes alighted as they met the bright, bewildered ones of his friend and his smile widened.

"Good, you're awake. I was afraid you might sleep right through the next night as well," he said jocularly making his way closer to the girls. "May I have a word alone?" he implied to the maid politely as the girl relinquished her spot with a nod and stepped out of the room.

"Iwasaki-san?" Kaoru moaned when the girl had left. "Where am I?" She couldn't help but hold her head as that rhythmic pounding continued fully in her head.

"The Kyoto General Defenses building," he replied smoothly fully expecting the question and answering it accordingly. He drew the tea tray closer and poured the liquid carefully into the awaiting cup. "Sit up," he gently commanded as he saw her slowly lagging back on the futon and moved to assist her mindfully into a sitting position, her feet swept to the side as she sat on her thigh and held herself up by her accompanying arm.

"When did I get here? Why am I here?" she accepted the tea he offered her and sipped it slowly confiding herself in the warmth it gave her.

Iwasaki set the teapot down giving her a startled look. "Last night, don't you remember?" He searched her face for some comprehension. "You were attacked on the road."

She narrowed her gaze at him a moment in disbelief before realization struck her and her brow settled. "Yes, I remember now, the assassin."

He nodded in approval and reached to fill her cup again seeing that it was empty. "Yes, me and my men came and retrieved you just before anything severe could happen."

"But Natsuo, he didn't make it... did he?" she stated more than asked.

He hesitated a moment before confirming her suspicions with a nod. "No, he was slain on the spot."

With a short, pained sigh she nodded drawing her gaze from his to rest plainly in her lap. "And it's my fault. Many people would die and it would all be my fault."

"Why would you say that?"

"The night we camped, the entire battalion, that was when he first came," she began glancing briefly between the door and the shuttered window. "He left before he could kill Natsuo and I."

Iwasaki listened diligently assessing her story. "And that man, when did you meet up with him?"

She turned her head sharply to him giving him a perplexed look, "What man?"

"The man we found you two with," he answered gesturing toward the window and the road that lay beyond it. "You told us that he saved you."

Quickly, Kaoru masked the horror she felt at hearing his words and covered glaring at the ceiling in mock thought. "Ano, it was just after nightfall I think."

"And what made you agree to travel with him?"

She shrugged. "He said he was a rurouni, a wanderer by fate heading to old haunts in Kyoto," she replied mentally slapping herself when she realized how much her story reminded her of Kenshin and her reasons for sheltering the assassin. "Besides, Natsuo said it would be wiser to travel with greater numbers to ward off animals and protect ourselves against would-be attackers. I guess he was right." She added the last part with a nostalgic vagueness that left Iwasaki slightly put out.

"Aa."

"Gomen, Iwasaki-san," she caught herself day-dreaming, her companion gazing confusedly at her.

He waved her off offering her instead a congenial grin and rising to his feet. "Don't be, you had a traumatic night."

She nodded raising herself stiffly to her knees and placing her cup on the tray so that she could engage her fingers in her hair. "Whatever happened to that man?" she asked quietly.

"Who? The wanderer?" he thought for a moment. "A few of my men carried him back and placed him in a separate room upstairs since he was still unconscious and needed a bit of medical attention." At her anxious look he expounded, "He had a fair sized gash on his leg and a few other minor wounds including a bump on the back of the head which we think was what knocked him out in the first place. He should be fine in a few days if not tomorrow."

She nodded in satisfaction. "Can I see him?"

"I'm afraid not right now," Iwasaki replied giving her a placating expression.

"Mou!" she said under her breath without thinking causing a short chuckle from the man standing at the door. "Why not?"

"It's already past noon and you have many engagements to attend to today and tonight."

"Like what?" she asked glaring immaturely at him. "I just got here."

"You got here hours ago and the Kyoto board has yet to meet you. You agreed to come meet the committee on my behalf, remember?"

She nodded after a moment and her glare softened melting into a concerned frown. "I still don't understand why I'm so important to these people. There are far more influential women in Japan."

"But none that did what you did," he consoled her. "Katsura-san wants to meet you personally since you were such an important part of Himura's life. He wants to thank you for what you did for him."

"I only did what any other compassionate person would do."

"No, you did what few other people of any sense would do. You opened yourself to a complete stranger and befriended him even after knowing who he was. Few would have had the courage to make a dangerous hitokiri part of their family and make him feel welcome in their home. He wants to thank you for that on his uncle's behalf."

Again she nodded having already heard the speech before. "I'm just nervous."

"I know," he said giving her one last smile as he opened the western door and began to step out. "You won't have to meet him though until tomorrow, today it's just the general officers, all of whom I know and can personally introduce you to."

Kaoru returned his smile slowly relinquishing the strand of hair she had been playing with and resting her hands on her thighs. "I suppose I can deal with that. I just wanted to talk to my savior before the day was through, you know, thank him and all."

"I know," he returned stepping further out the door with only a foot left in the room. "I'll have him invited to dinner tonight. We are having a smaller gathering at the meal and he may be more comfortable there than at a greater convention."

"Thank you," she said, a genuinely pleased smile stretching the corners of her mouth causing his own to grow in proportion.

"Then I'll see you in an hour after you've eaten and we'll begin conversing with the public, ne?" He waited for her to acknowledge his plan before nodding his head singularly and continuing, "Great, then I'll see you soon." With that he stepped from the room and closed the door softly behind him with a short click leaving Kaoru alone to finish with her preparations for the day.

* * *

"So we've established that they originated from Hokkaido? Is that all?"

"Aa, we've yet to find the leader of this rebellion. Apparently they've been able to keep the lowest of profiles while all this mayhem happened."

"Mm. And the militia stationed at that town outside Edo?"

"Dead; completely destroyed by the rebels, all one hundred of them."

The elder man gave a sigh as he assessed the ill report and massaged a hand roughly against his brow before dropping the hand haplessly into his lap. "No leads, no traces? What kind of rebellion is so calculated that they employ stealth as their major priority? I thought this was supposed to be a legion of farmers, ranchers, and artisans, not a militant group."

"They are normal working class specimens, the only matter is that most of them probably served in the Bakumatsu under the Shinsengumi or the Ishin Shishi. Anyone who survived battle during that era is a skilled enough swordsman to take down a portion of our forces. Our young men are hardly trained and lack the ability to commence a veritable power against these experienced swordsmen." The younger paused analyzing his companion with unwavering eyes, the gravity in his voice emphasizing each word, "We need to employ better men. We need to bring Battousai into direct battle."

"You don't know what you're suggesting," the elder compromised matching the other's serious fervor. "By bringing him into war you risk his sanity. He's currently content to let people believe him dead. If his friends hear of his revival they'll come for him regardless and he will lose his mind. I can't allow you to do that to him, he's suffered enough."

"Yamagata-san, I know about the girl," the younger continued, his tone softening by degrees. "But it can't be helped; she died and he's learned to accept that. Besides, she was the only lasting link he had between his other friends in Tokyo. With her gone they would find no reason to risk bothering him. They've all moved on since her de..."

"She isn't dead, Matsuyo."

The younger man stopped in his speech to turn confused eyes toward his commanding officer. "But the fire..."

"She survived," Yamagata said simply standing from his seat to glance out the window at the small crowd of politians gathered there. "She was always strong like that. I just regret that I found out about it too late to help the both of them."

Katsura nodded sagely briefly glancing out the window from his own seat. "What's become of her then?"

"That," Yamagata began giving his associate a small, warm smile, "is what I intend to find out today."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," the younger man said relinquishing his own chair to follow Yamagata to the door.

"I haven't seen her in years," he smiled opening the door and stalling there a moment to answer. "She's come to Kyoto with a friend though and I intend to catch up with her now that she's here. It seems life hasn't been all that kind to our Kamiya-san. She was attacked on her journey up and narrowly missed being killed. Last night Iwasaki found her before any more harm could pass her or the man she had been traveling with whom supposedly saved the girl from her assailant."

So it was true, Katsura thought to himself. The girl was still alive. He could only imagine how Himura would react to the news.

"Now," Yamagata continued on traversing through the open door and calling over his shoulder, "I believe I've kept her waiting long enough."

* * *

He awoke with a jolt, his muscles instinctively protesting from their strain though he paid them no mind instead opting to glance about at his surroundings with disoriented eyes. A quiver passed just below his skin as he felt the chill of the early winter breezes nip his exposed chest. Shifting slightly on his spot he noticed the dull numbness of his left leg inspiring a new curiosity within him before realization set in causing him to both mentally and physically flinch where he sat despite having not moved.

Last night he'd nearly killed her just when he realized she was alive again. He'd nearly killed her.

Folding his legs he sat his elbows upon his knees and drew his firey bangs from his forehead contenting himself to stare into his lap for the moment. Another sound breeze drew his loose hair across his shoulder tickling the skin there and prickling at his sore face, yet he didn't move to tame the fluttering strands and instead released a heavy, shuddering sigh that he'd felt building within himself for the past few moments of recollection.

She was alive, and he'd nearly killed her.

A friendly knock called from the room's door alerting him to a visitor and for an instant he entertained the idea of vanishing before he was found lazing within this comfortable room. The notion was quickly disregarded however when the heavy door eased open and a young man stepped through closing the door diligently behind him as he merely stood rooted to his last placement.

"Good morning," the man said with the smallest hint of a smile. "I trust you slept well."

"Aa," Kenshin affirmed straightening his posture in the presence of this stranger. "Thank you."

"No; thank you," the man countered taking a few brazen steps forward, his hands linked behind his back. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there last night to save my friend."

Kenshin looked away inconspicuously to avoid the other's eyes. "I've done nothing."

"Modesty isn't important you know. Most men would be demanding a reward for their actions by now and I would have gladly obliged. Will you not do the same?"

"There is no price I can consciously put on my actions," he answered evasively.

His reply only seemed to make the young man's smile grow immensely as a faint twinkle edged at the corners of his light brown eyes. "I suppose not, ne? But all the same, my friend would like to invite you to dinner with us tonight so she can personally thank you." He glanced at the man sitting on his futon curiously noting the way he slightly favored his injured leg. "I'll have the surgeon come back to examine that for you before then, though."

Following the man's stare, Kenshin glanced at his wound indifferently before turning his eyes to half-way stare at him. "Thank you, I appreciate the service." He saw the man's strained smile slide into a contented smirk before proceding, "I'm sorry, but what did you say your name was?"

Iwasaki's grin faltered for an instant before he caught himself, "Iwasaki, statesman Iwasaki. I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. May I ask your name? My friend was unable to disclose that when we last talked."

Panic arose in Kenshin though he outwardly showed no signs of dismay, instead he inclined his head to the side and issued the first name that came to mind, "Kiyosato, Kiyosato Akira."

Iwasaki nodded satisfied with the former's answer before continuing, "Feel free to come and go as you please. We owe you much for your services and I imagine it will be awhile before you'll be able to properly walk on that leg of yours." He waited for the older, shaggier looking man to accept his terms before going on, "I do hope you join us for dinner as well, it'll be at seven-thirty in the common's dining room. My friend would be very pleased if you were to join us."

"Your friend," Kenshin began glancing toward the window where the faint clatter of several conversing voices could be heard from outside. "What is her name?"

A perplexed looked crossed Iwasaki's handsome features before he answered, "Kaoru, Kamiya Kaoru. Why, didn't you know?"

"It slipped me for a minute. I almost forgot what happened last night, too," he countered smoothly covering his trail and concealing his lies easily. "I suppose it's all this excitement that has me forgetting things."

"Aa," Iwasaki agreed moving towards the door once more and beginning his departure. "You should rest. I'll have a chamber maid inform you when dinner is almost prepared."

"Arigato," Kenshin said trying his own slight smile for the sake of convincing the young man of his sincerity.

With a nod, Iwasaki exited the room leaving Kenshin to himself and his thoughts of a raven haired ghost that had arisen to haunt him from beyond her caustic grave.

* * *

Kaoru held her breath as she balanced the dinner tray precariously in her arms just outside the guest room. Her heart pounded audibly into her throat and her knees trembled anxiously while she debated the cleanest approach to advancing upon the room and meeting her assailant face to face for the first time. How should she address him? Would he think her vulgar and audacious for calling upon him late at night alone? More so, would he be offended by her tendencies to speak unhindered and out of turn?

She knew nothing if little of this man and the repercussions of surprising or offending him in his own, distant space could very well be perilous for her should she not protect her personal guard with a wary eye. If the worst should come about, at least a single scream from her would send dozens of sentries rushing to her aid at a moment's notice to apprehend the man. She breathed a shaken sigh and straightened her posture readying herself to enter the room with one last thought. He may very well just be almost exactly like Kenshin; and she would risk everything for that possibility. Using her left arm to support the tray against the wall, Kaoru slowly, carefully opened the wooden door before advancing into the room tray in hand.

The room was grayed and dark in the absence of the sun's light leaving only the outside lamp-posts to dimly illuminate the room's silent corners. Despite the lack of direction, she made her way as gracefully as possible to a short table situated between two tatamis beside the window. Laying the tray down on the table, she allowed herself to kneel on the closer tatami, head averted to her lap awaiting her guest in quiet gestures. A minute passed and the shuffle of linen and feet failed to rustle the interest of her hearing just as her company failed to take their place across the table from her.

With confused eyes, she bravely took a sweep of the area postulating that her guest was not even in the room to begin with and she had made an entire polite show in vain. The bed was empty as was the chair in front of the small fireplace in the corner. She glanced quickly at the armoir and the desk placed neatly along the wall all the while expecting to see a lone figure waiting patiently there for her to find him, but he was not there. Instead, the faintest clank of sifting metal drew her attention to the hazy corner behind her where the reposed form of a hunched, shadowed figure sat stringing a small chain around his neck and dangling a round trinket from its hold. Kaoru watched him a moment out of confusion before calling upon her most amicable smile.

"Anou," she began reaching for something to say to gain his attention simply. "Good evening."

She waited for his reaction and was slightly perturbed when he decided to ignore her and continue with his monotonous actions of fidgetting with his necklace. Instead of riling her anger as the disinterest was likely to do in her case, she felt sheepish as she quickly began to reach across the table and arrange the foods she had brought.

"I thought you might be hungry," she quickly said filling in the gap of silence that would settle upon the room should she remain quiet. "I brought you some miso, fish, and tea from the kitchen."

She looked to him for a reaction but found none issuing a sense of displacement within her that unsettled her nerves and caused her to wring her hands. She glanced as mildly as she could toward the corner every now and again until her patience had become worn and she accepted the fact that she was not wanted within the small room. Just as she was making to lift herself from her seat, a voice tore her back to the corner and gained her undivided attention.

"Why?" the voice asked low and deliberately barely taking any direction toward being a question or a statement.

Kaoru glanced back to the food waiting on the tray and then once again at his sullen form hidden within the shadow. "You weren't at dinner tonight so I guessed that you might have been feeling too ill to attend or that you were..."

"No," he cut her off briskly again. "Why?"

Bewilderment replaced Kaoru's frenzied speech as she fully turned to face him from her place on the tatami. In the vague light she could scarcely make out anything more from him than the dull, gray outline of his glowing eyes as they watched from behind the hooded gaze of his countenance. "Why what?"

His heavy bangs swayed with a low gravity. Head rising a fraction from its perch against his chest, he gazed distantly at her across the room. "Just that, why?"

Her demure attitude fell slightly as she allowed her shoulders to hunch in the barest of visible degrees forward as she looked away out the window. "Why not? You're a person too, and even if you did kill over twenty people in the past two days alone, that dosn't mean I want you to die as well." She glanced at him with half a genuine smile. "I don't know you so I can't judge why you did what you did, and that's reason enough for me to help you."

"I might have killed you in your foolishness. Just as you said, you don't know me."

"Hai, but it doesn't matter much to me. Besides, I don't think you will kill me."

"But my orders thus far are just that."

"Is that so?" she asked watching the stillness of his figure nod in the dimness. "Then I suppose I'll have to remember my guard while you're around."

"I won't be around long," he stated brusquely turning to gaze nonchalantly out the window. "Don't bother concerning yourself with me."

"Why?" she blurted innocently, her eyes wide in confusion. "Where are you going to go? Your leg is still injured, surely you can't expect to get anywhere with a wound like that?"

"I'll be able to manage," he told her coldly only offering a glance in her general direction. "I've failed my mission and now I must confess so to my superiors here in Kyoto. Purely business." He turned his head fractionally towards her and offered a few white teeth through the darkness of the room in a smirk aimed to disrupt her composure and give himself a dangerous appeal that may very well ward her away from his private motives. "I'm sure you understand."

But her calmness remained unperturbed as she silently stared back at him with pleading, inquisitive eyes festering slowly with a burning indignation. "I understand completely, Kiyosato-san." He started at the name barely remembering it to be the one he had issued to Iwasaki earlier. Luckily she hadn't noticed his folly and continued on with her speech. "Your life is dedicated to duty, and your duty is to cleanse the world of sinners." She glared at him through the darkness masking his features and imagined a face for him, uniforming it into the one she could see his voice serving in her mind. The undaunted gleam in his hazy eyes never moved, never wavered as she continued, her hands clutching at the soft material covering her knees. "Your duty is murder."

"So then you've figured me all out then I suppose?"

Her frown suddenly softened and her lips nearly curled into a weak smile as she answered, "Not in the slightest really." She looked away from his heated gaze to watch the folds in her lap with mild interest.

"What else is there to know?" he shrugged, his husky voice losing its vigor. "I'm a killer."

"I don't know why, though." She briefly glanced at him beneath the curtain of her raven hair cascading about her shoulders as she sat. "Bloodlust would be the obvious answer, but it doesn't seem to suit you."

"And why's that?"

"Because you didn't kill me." This time she held his gaze stiffly within her own analyzing the dance of colors she could vividly see shining through his hood of bangs and thick lashes. She turned to him fully repositioning her stature on the tatami so that she no longer looked over her shoulder to him but was instead facing him fully. "Why do you kill?"

"To protect," he answered vaguely meeting the small challenge in her eyes defiantly.

"Protect who or what?"

"The innocent, structure, honor..."

"Honor?"

Kenshin nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Whose honor?" she asked softly, her curiosity gaining the advantage over her self-control and upsetting the balance of power in the conversational exchange.

Their eyes battled for an instant, one warding the other away as the other strove to inquire further until he conceded and turned away out the window with a single word lingering faintly on his lips and barely drifting into sound, "Hers."

Kaoru almost failed to hear it as she leaned forward fascinated on her knees. "A woman?"

A faint nod of acknowledgement.

"A lover?"

"I did love her if that's what you mean." He sighed and traced an anxious hand across his face, the unusual atmosphere clinging to his collar and making him feel heady and nostalgic as the irony of the circumstances began to weigh steadily in his mind.

The room grew quiet as the pair sat in contemplative silence each deliberating with themselves over the actions to be taken next concerning the other and their own thoughts. A lone raven cawed from its perch outside drawing both occupant's attention to the window before they returned once more to the problem at hand.

"What happened to her?" Kaoru finally asking breaking the stony silence and solemnity that had previously occupied the room.

"She died," he answered with a tight throat willing himself to not look at the ghost that sat across from him watching his every move with compassionate, sympathetic eyes even after all the trauma he had caused her. "A long time ago."

The ghost merely nodded and finally averted her eyes to the floor relieving him of her daunting stare. "I understand," she whispered keeping a close watch over the movement of her folded hands. "I lost someone too. It hurts. I understand your loss."

"Yes it does hurt, but you don't understand my loss; not in the slightest." He turned his eyes to glare angrily at her though his chin remained against his chest.

"And why not?" she asked meeting his glare with a heated look of her own.

"Because you don't know what it is to kill someone," he paused only for a moment to gauge her reaction before continuing. "You don't know what it is to kill someone you love."

She gasped, a delicate hand raising to cover her agape mouth, and while he knew he was lying under the terms of her own death, he still felt as though he had carried her blood upon his soiled hands through the valley of death on a toiling journey. She was still dead to him despite being only meters away.

"You killed her?" Kaoru whimpered, her eyes filling with pity for the man across from her.

"Does it matter anymore?"

"Of course it does, you loved her."

"I avenge her daily," he broke out interupting her spiel before she could gain any real ground.

"With death?" she broke out all the same. She drew herself to her feet as quickly as she could manage staggering slightly from her impediments and noticing quietly how he flinched his hands everytime she was close to falling as though he would rush to her assistance should she need his help and attentions. Interesting, but she still needed to finish. "No respectable woman wishes for her death to be morned and revered in bloodshed." She held her head high as she gazed at him from her recent height advantage. A small smile graced her eyes as she added, "Kenshin could have told you all about that. I'm sure he would have too."

"Kenshin?" he whispered to himself in awe as she nodded proudly down to him.

"Aa, Kenshin," she agreed, her smile growing each moment. "He was a friend of mine, but I loved him." He listened intently to her each word registering and recording itself permanently into his memory. Her smile suddenly dropped however. "He died... a couple years ago. It was my fault."

A stray tear traced down the contours of her cheek and he resisted the urge to surge to his feet and hold her telling her everything would be alright because he was alive and so was she and now they could be together again. But they couldn't, because he wasn't alive. He had been dead for the past two years and he refused to offer such information unbidden to her now. It was best she believe he had always been dead and save her the devastation of knowing his real fate.

So he settled to stare at her as she gazed fondly yet sadly into the opposite corner folding the crease of her kimono between her thin fingers in memory of lighter days. "I wish you could have met him, you would have had a world in common."

Oh, she didn't know the half of it.

"I suppose I should just settle then for myself." She graced him with another one of her small smiles. "I do hope you stay, Kiyosato-san. I've been lonely, and I wouldn't mind harboring another assassin under the alias of 'friend'." She walked as elegantly as she could manage to the door despite the ache in her scarred foot and looked back at him with a short nod. "Oyasumi, Kiyosato-san."

He waited silently until the door had closed behind her before throwing his head back against the wall with a soft thud and grazing his hands roughly over his face to bid his tension, unease, and indecision away. In the end, he couldn't suppress the tiny smile that quirked from the edge of his mouth.

"Oyasumi... Kaoru-dono."

* * *

Next Chapter:

The Truth About Sparrows

(A/N) Ok, maybe the next chapter will come out sooner b/c I'm already working on it. Once more, if you want to be informed of updates, just leave your email addy in a review and I'll be sure to contact you on every update!! Thanks everyone and please, please, please, please, please REVIEW!! A lack of reviews a lack of updates.

REVIEWER RESPONSES:

- Ariel - Funny you should ask about Kenshin meeting up with Sano and Yahiko... cuz it's quite likely to happen sometime soon, like... next chapter maybe. lol. Thanks for reviewing.

- Linay - Oh please I hate to say it, but stop reviewing because you're making me cry!! I really am star-struck by you reviewing my story, it's awesome and I really appreciate it!! Thank you so much!! (and I was kidding before, please keep reviewing ) And Cat (one of my reviewers) says "Hi!" She also wants you to continue your story (as does everyone, lol, we love you!!)

- kouri - Oh thank you so much for all the cookies, they're truly what keeps me going!! Not too too much emotional torture in this chapter, but I suppose it'll have to do for now since next chapter may get a bit... rough.

- The Girl Who Cried Oro- Thanks so much for the email, it warmed me to know that even though was messing up, you still wanted to get your review to me. I REALLY appreciate that. Next chappie we will explore quite a few things including the question, "What is Iwasaki to Kaoru?" I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much once again.

- Curls of Serenity, Amber, Cat, Psyche, Angrybee, Vegeta26, Inygodusk - Thank you all so much for reviewing!! I appreciate the support and I hope to hear from you all again!!


	8. Chapter 7: The Truth About Sparrows

(A/N) Ummm, heh heh, sorry for the long intermission but as always I was busy and I couldn't figure out how to format this chapter. Anyway, it's here now, though a bit shorter than usual. Hopefully no one minds. Also, I hope the mailing list was a success. Anyway, I don't have much to say about this chapter, so read on !!

If you love to read a good story and don't mind angst, I would strongly suggest reading a fantastic piece by Maeve Riannon entitled "To Look Into Her Eyes". It's a wonderful story and I would encourage everyone to read it despite the fact that it is a bit melancholy.

Disclaimer: Concepts and Plot Poppy , Characters and Setting Watsuki Nobuhiro

**A Bittersweet Elegy**

**Chapter 7: The Truth About Sparrows**

_"How can anyone be happy forgetting the one they love?"_

_-Makimachi Misao_

The next early morning greeted Kenshin with the sound of two male voices approaching his room and surprisingly reaching his very door. A few excited words were exchanged just outside the door before it was opened and said voices molded into the shapes of a tall, lanky man and a younger boy possibly in his preteenage years. They squabbled between themselves about inside jokes obviously unaware of the third presence within the room huddled against the wall with a katana against his shoulder and a short blanket warding off the early morning chills.

"I don't know if busu is gonna be glad about us coming so much earlier than we told her we would," the younger spoke breaking apart from the hold the older man, though probably only in his early twenties, had upon his head.

"Why wouldn't she? Jou-chan sounded anxious for us to get here when she left."

"Yeah, but that's cuz she thought we wouldn't be here for a month rooster head!" the spiky haired youth retorted stomping over to the opposite corner to deposit his sparse belongings. "She'll probably want more time alone with Iwasaki-san." He paused for a moment in thought before continuing, "What was it that he wanted to talk to you about anyway?"

"Who?"

"Iwasaki-san, who else?" he said in apparent impatience with his older counterpart.

"Oh yeah," the man said simply. "He was just asking if it would be wise to ask her tonight or if I thought he should wait longer or until the end of the week. He wanted my opinion, you know, since I've been her friend for so long."

Kenshin felt his interest take an extra peak besides the surprise of having two of his old friends suddenly barge into the room. That in itself had nearly caused him a heart attack, but just what was it they were implying Iwasaki was going to ask Kaoru? Anyway, he assumed it was Kaoru considering their 'friendship'.

"What did you tell him?"

Sano shrugged beginning to turn around to the opposite corner where Kenshin had remained hidden and unnoticed in the early morning shadows. "I told him that I didn't see any reason why he couldn't ask her tonight."

"Is that all?"

"What else is there?"

Yahiko sighed loudly in exasperation and began to rummage through his things leaving Sano to himself as he absently scratched the back of his head a moment before shrugging once more and returning to his own corner looking over his shoulder at the boy for a few steps before shrugging to himself and turning to face a pair of amber eyes glaring up at him with inherent, brazen danger. He started and faltered in his steps before flailing to the side and reaching desperately for Yahiko whom glanced at the corner after his companion's exaggerated upset. With a gasp from the boy, Sano threw Yahiko behind him, shielding the younger from the prying eyes of this new possible threat while managing to gather himself into a protective fighting stance.

"Who are you?" Sano demanded his fists clenched before him in a defensive gesture. "Why are you in our room?"

A fine brow raised on Kenshin's behalf as the assassin made to gain his feet in a slightly unbalanced though graceful display given his injury and causing Sano's wary demeanor to drop fractionally as the apparent danger seemed to dwindle into the form of a short, wounded man.

"I had thought that this was my room," he said slowly adjusting his grip on the katana as he took a few steps forward from the shadow, his face downcast to hide the expression in his eyes and possibly his identity from curious onlookers. "I guess I was wrong. Pardon me."

Despite not being given a name and his suspicion over this new stranger, Sano shook his head and stepped away from Yahiko to relinquish their room. "No," he said moving to pick up his stuff from where it had fallen in his haste. "This is your room. It's just that we usually stay here when we visit." He stood up straight and motioned toward the boy. "Get your stuff, Yahiko. We gotta ask Iwasaki-san where we're supposed to stay this time." With that he turned completely from the vividly red haired stranger and began to make his way towards the door.

Kenshin stared at the boy from his vantage against the pale, shadowed wall that was not yet touched by the early morning light. He had grown in the past few years filling out into his muscles a bit and formulating nicely into the structure of a young man. His eyes still held the same inquisitive gleam they had possessed years ago as they currently watched him curiously searching over his tired and wary form. They stood like that for a moment assessing one another and collecting together broken pieces that had yet to mend themselves in the younger boy's mind until a deep voice cut through their telepathic conversation efficiently drawing the boy's attention elsewhere.

"Come on, Yahiko," Sano bellowed impatiently from the door way. "What's the matter with ya?"

Yahiko stared befuddled at him a moment before shaking his head and following after his spiky haired comrade. "Nothing. I guess I'm just seeing things."

"Like what?" Sano asked waiting for him to step through the door so that he could close it and gave a short, curt nod to Kenshin as a farewell.

Curious eyes glanced back over his shoulder at the figure that once again sat in the secluded shadows brooding in his own thoughts before shaking his head amusedly to himself and answering, "I thought I saw Kenshin. An older, more masculine looking Kenshin, but still Kenshin."

As he passed through the doorway, belongings slung over his shoulder, he gave Sanosuke a sad, hopeful smile before continuing down the hall in search of Iwasaki. Sano stood in the doorway a moment longer glancing back himself to the figure that had once again sat reposed against the wall and looked to be seeking sleep in his makeshift, comfortable position. His eyes strove over the slight build and possibly auburn hair shielded in the dark recesses of the corner and allowed a small smirk to raise the corners of his mouth as he noticed the short facial hair that adorned the man's jaw and chin. An older version of Kenshin maybe, but not Kenshin.

He stepped out of the room fully and closed the door as soundlessly as he could manage before turning down the hallway and following after Yahiko to Iwasaki's office careful not to create too much clatter unless he dare risk waking others from their sleep. He never even noticed the top of an old, worn scar peeking out from behind the cover of a crimson beard.

* * *

It had been several days since Himura's last report. Despite any and all occurences, his most trusted and efficient employee should never be more than a few hours late. Of course, he didn't know exactly what the intentions of the small band he'd previously assigned the assassin to extinguish had been, but he was certain that they were of little correlation to the lapse in time he'd had to deal with between updates. Katsura sighed to himself and ran a hand over his temple in dismay. A small nagging already established itself hours ago in the back of his head taunting him that his indestructable Battousai had finally fallen to the sword of another man...

"Katsura-san!" came a jocular, male voice from the doorway.

He gave a small smile to the young man he had grown to adore similarly as a son in the past few years and nodded quietly to him before allowing his eyes to move to the small, elegantly dressed woman beside him. He marvelled at her for a moment.

... or fallen to a woman perhaps.

* * *

The bleary night hardly affected him, hardly rendered him in his nearly hypnotic state. His entire day had been spent within the confines of his alloted room pondering his situation and the wisest measures to take in acting against it. Except for the momentary and intriguing interruption that morning by his two former comrades, he had remained undisturbed the entire day and expected he would remain so without any further hindrances. That was the way he would have preferred it anyway. Maids had been summoned earlier to leave meals at his door with the belief that he was resting and it would be rude to intrude upon his reposing state. Such meals had been noted and imbibed only enough to keep his caretakers from worrying on his behalf when he left the partially eaten trays outside his door once more when he was finished.

With such substantial solitude, it had been almost surprising to him when his senses had picked up upon the life force lingering outside his door for long moments at a time only to leave and return later to linger at his doorstep once more. It was even more shocking when in the evening hours just before he supposed another maid would bring his dinner a soft knock was rasped against the heavy door. Moments later when he had not answered, the knob slowly turned with an audible sigh and the door tentatively creaked open just enough for a head of dark, mussed brown hair to peer through from the safety of the hallway.

* * *

"I'd like you to meet Kamiya Kaoru," Iwasaki chatted guiding the young woman forward. She leaned heavily against his broad arm, the art of walking obviouisly causing a strain to her diminuitive form.

Iridescently blue eyes stared demurely, uncertainly at him from below a modest brow as they reached him, her tiny hand extended for him to take.

"It's an honor to meet you, sir," she supplied in a svelte, soft voice as she gave a shallow bow.

"The honor is all mine, Kamiya-san," he parried taking her hand and reciprocating the bow. "I have heard many great things about you both past and present."

Her cheeks visibly flushed at the comment and she tried to conceal her embarrassment with a soft chuckle. "I'm not certain that you should take it all to heart, Katsura-san. People love to indulge in stories and I've done nothing worth mentioning."

"Then please," he said lightly gesturing toward the dinner table and silently asking them to sit, "enlighten me as to what you have done."

She took her seat, blushing a bit more when Iwasaki pulled her chair out and in for her before taking his own seat to her left, Katsura situating himself across from her. She looked to her plate hoping to find some sort of answer there before settling on the obvious. "What would you like to know?"

"I suppose we could always start with how you met Himura-san," he replied neutrally reaching for the cup of sake placed in front of him a moment ago.

Kaoru nodded returning her gaze to the table and wringing her hands anxiously in her lap as she thought.

* * *

It must have been particularly dark in the room. Though Kenshin could see his curious visitor with his already adjusted eyesight, it took a few moments for the boy to locate his object of interest situated in the same corner he had been in previously that morning. However when his bright, inquiring eyes finally alighted on him sitting hunched in the corner he immediately sobered and stepped into the room completely giving a deep bow and looking almost lost in his suddenly fidgetty state.

The youth's gaze remained on his feet for several moments unable to meet the gaze of the room's other occupant. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides as he obviously agrued an introverted battle on his next course of action.

"Would you mind closing the door, please?" he asked mildly his voice unaffected by any emotion.

It was a simple request that somehow caused a great deal of confusion to cross the boy's face as he stared between the door and the shadow in the corner trying to comprehend what the purpose of such an inquiry could be.

"I don't enjoy it when people try to look in on me," he offered off-handedly and then added when he saw the boy's eyebrow crinkle slightly in a perplexed manner, "Some of the people here seem to think it's fun to gawk at newcomers."

The teenager nodded his understanding, the crinkle in his brow straightening and his expression rounding once more. A moment later the door was closed and the soft light from the hallway was permitted only from the small crevices around the door's frame leaving the room's occupants with only a faint glow.

* * *

"It was silly really. He came to Edo as a rurouni and I attacked him thinking he was the Battousai whom had been terrorizing the city and using my family's technique as his weapon. I realized my folly and extended my home to him only to later find out I had been mistakenly correct in my first assumptions. He lived with me as my friend ever since, even after his trials with Shishio Makoto."

Katsura nodded calmly returning the sake to his lips again. "I've heard of his experiences with Shishio Makoto. I also heard that in order to kill Shishio he tried to abandon everything dear to him and..."

"Yes, Katsura-san. That's very true," she interrupted softly her eyes watching the table placatingly. "But I don't think it would be very comely to speak of things like that so openly. Everything he did, he did to help others. No one can patronize him for that."

She kept her head down expecting Matsuyo to reprimand her for speaking so boldly, but instead he nodded and said, "It sounds as though you became quite attached to him."

"Hai," she answered feeling withheld tears begin to grow more insistently against the corners of her eyes. She felt the weight of Iwasaki's hand squeeze her own comfortingly and relaxed. He had offered her his support ever since she began to mention Kenshin's departure to Kyoto and she felt consoled to know that he cared enough to give her such solace while she talked about another man.

"What happened to make you split ways?" Katsura asked after a pregnant pause only to create another.

Kaoru glanced around the room uncomfortably before answering in a wavering voice, her bottom lip trembling, "He died. Two years ago, in the accident."

* * *

Yahiko took a mild step forward careful to keep his posture straight and proud though his eyes spoke of clear uncertainty. His hands were casually placed into the pockets of his hakama a moment later as he relaxed his stance slightly and willed himself to speak with a clear and steady voice.

"I wanted to thank you," he said deeply looking beyond the brazen, golden gaze across from him to the brandished wall.

"There's really no need," was the honest reply though starkly serious in its tone.

"Kaoru told me about how you saved her the other night." He paused a moment waiting to see if his audience would comment. When none came he continued, "She's like a surrogate sister to me ya know. Always been there for me when I needed her. It means alot to me that she's alright. I'm sure you understand."

When his eyes fell to attempt meeting the eyes of the other man, he was surprised to see that those golden orbs had closed and his only answer was a brief nod of understanding accompanied by a short sound of agreement.

He waited another moment for the man to say something else, but then reprieved himself a moment to find a seat in the nearby chair of the room's desk bowing his head into the solace of his hands and lifting it slightly to cup his chin within his fingers.

"I thank you for that, really I do," he began staring intently at the opposite wall far enough away from Kenshin for the assassin to be confident that his form was still well hidden in the darkness. "But there's something about her story that just doesn't seem to make sense," and his eyes fell warily upon the morose stare of his nightmares' demon.

* * *

"What accident?" He leaned forward unconsciously hoping for her to continue as his intrigue greatly grew. He knew remotely of the incident, but he needed to know more.

"I had been sick," she began, her eyes closing themselves to everything but the napkin in her lap already moist from her earlier tears. "He left to go to the market while I rested." She paused, a ragged breath drawing back her voice as she fought her emotions. "The dojo... it... somehow caught on fire while I was asleep... and..." she broke off, a hand going to her mouth to stifle a few earnest sobs incurred by the memory.

"Perhaps we should continue this another day," Iwasaki put in placing a bracing hand against her back.

Katsura began to nod in agreement when she shook her head violently looking the older man straight in the eye.

"No, I can tell you," she stated evenly, another sob nearly overtaking her. "I was about to be burned alive, and he tried to save me. I was surrounded by fire and all I heard were his shouts and screams as he tried to get to me." She sniffled softly turning red, swollen eyes to the man across from her, willing him to understand her story. "I was eventually saved by my dear friend Sano, but as he was carrying me away I saw him. He still thought I was inside, but the police were having far too much trouble restraining him." Her eyes suddenly hardened fractionally. "They slew him where he knelt because of me."

The older official sat back slowly in his chair, taking in this new information as she continued to stare at him with her angst ridden eyes.

"You see, Katsura-san, I have done nothing of importance because I killed the greatest man I ever met, the greatest man Japan has probably ever known." She hesitated a moment leaning forward slightly in her seat to peer at him through her glossy eyes. "I killed him. That's the sad truth."

* * *

Unconsciously, Kenshin shifted nervously in his spot, the heat of Yahiko's gaze nearly burning the small hairs from his skin. The sake of his safety and identity rested upon the components of this young man's inquiry and to not answer auspiciously could jeopardize said matters.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," he said hoping to delay any convictions.

To his utter surprise, the boy merely grinned and perched his elbows upon his knees. "Don't worry," he seemed to chant in a friendly manner. "She doesn't really either."

* * *

Silence remained as the three occupants of the table waited for another word to break the melancholy air that had settled upon their dinner.

Finally, she spoke again. "I apologize. I didn't mean to get so emotional."

"Not at all. I'm sorry to have brought up such painful memories." Katsura reached into his breast pocket and extracted a handkerchief which he mindfully handed to her upon inspection. "Please accect my apologies."

She waved him off with a curtious hand before graciously accepting the cloth and drying her eyes. "There's really no need, sir. I've been quite alright lately."

"Is that so?" he inquired offering her a mild grin.

"Hai," she said returning the grin with a small smile of her own.

"How so?"

"I seem to have found myself a new project," she gave a short giggle realizing who she was referring to.

"And what's that?"

* * *

They stared at each other a long while, one smiling and the other expressionless until the one smiling relinquished the hold to shake his head mildly and pinch his nose netween his fingers.

"I apologize," he suddenly said raising his head from his fingers and offering another mature smile. "I haven't introduced myself. I'm Myoujin Yahiko."

"Kiyosato Akira," Kenshin replied automatically hoping to still manage his farse.

A strange gleam met the boy's eyes and for an instant he appeared ages older than he truly was. "It's nice to meet you Kiyosato-san." He smiled only a moment longer before rising from his chair and turning toward the door. Halfway through he turned once more to peer at the figure watching his departure stoically in the edge of the room. "Yet still I can't help but wonder..."

"What is that?" he responded brusquely.

* * *

"I've found a new haunted soul to heal," she replied her smile slowly turning genuine. "The man that I met last night when I was attacked, I want to help him. It's my new goal. I want to help him just like I helped Kenshin."

"Kaoru always has been charitable," Iwasaki chimed in giving her hand a short squeeze of reassurance.

"I just want to help him, that's all. Sometimes we all need help to find our way." The men nodded.

"What does he look like?" Katsura inquired wondering if he'd ever passed the man before in his travels.

Kaoru floundered for a moment before Iwasaki answered for her, "He's a shorter man in maybe his early thirties. A bit shorter in stature I'd guess with a topknot and auburn hair and a short beard."

A restless chill suddenly tore through Katsura's spine as realization made its mundane and ironic appearance.

* * *

"If you met up with Kaoru already," he began tearing his gaze away to face the window where the moon was beginning to show, "Then why is it you're still alone here in your room while she's alone with Iwasaki-san in the parlor?"

* * *

Dinner soon excused itself as both parties separated to their own factions, Katsura to his office and Iwasaki bidding Kaoru to follow him into the side parlor. In the end he won out and she willingly followed her handsome host to the parlor where they sat on a western couch before a blazing fire burning in the hearth. They sat for a minute staring dazedly at the flames in silent awe until She felt Iwasaki's fingers curl around her own and gently offering her the comfort he somehow knew she needed.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked quietly, her eyes still remaining on the fire.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his eyes moving to find her face in the room's soft light.

"The fire," she responded, the nostalgia in her voice and expression nearly catatonic. "It's so comforting and yet so disturbing. The colors always remind me of him."

"I can imagine that any fire would make you remember what happened two years ago."

She gave him a soft smile and shook her head calmly. "That's not what I meant, though it's true I still think about the fire all the time." After saying this she turned away once more to gaze at the hearth. "I meant that the colors remind me of Kenshin, the mixing and swirling of the bright crimsons and the mysterious blue hue that somehow comes to life at times. The flames look the same as his hair on windy mornings and the odd indigo of his eyes."

Again she sat in stony silence, her expression suddenly turning more grave till he could hardly stand to see her so upset any longer. "You really miss him don't you?"

"Of course I do," she said quietly and then continued almost too softly for his ears to hear never daring to meet her companion's eyes, "I love him."

* * *

Absolute befuddlement etched itself into the assassin's face as he pondered the sense of the question again and again in his head despite his puzzling and questionable understanding of the statement. Still he answered to regain his demeanor, "I don't understand what you mean."

Another sad smile passed Yahiko's features as he continued to stare out the window, his figure illuminated by the light of the hallway. He gave the man one last glance as he turned in the doorway muttering under his breath just loud enough for keen ears to hear, "Of course you don't, Kenshin. Of course you don't."

* * *

Next Chapter:

The Truth About Ravens

(A/N) Wow, author notes just aren't coming easily to me today. I just don't know what to say. I guess I can say that I'm sorry, but you're all gonna hate me for the next chapter... heh heh. Oooppps...

REVIEWER RESPONSES:

- Oro-man, Strawberry Shortcake of Doom, Sapphire-Starlight, The Girl Wo Cried Oro, Fairurth, Ariel, Kouri, Vegeta26, April, Shimizu Hitomi, Selena, Thunderstorm2, Lizzy44, Steph-chan, raine84, kana173, blue jeans - Thank you all so much for reviewing!! It means alot to me and I hope to hear from you again soon!!

- Linay - I didn't really mean it when I said stop reviewing, but it's still such a shock. I mean, I love you man, you and your stories. I just thought it would be a nice little touch to add Kiyosato's name in there to add to the...uh, feel. Thanks for reviewing again!!

- Sheer Bliss - Your review was so sweet and touching I think I started blushing when I read it. Thanks for that, I really needed it. Also, I agree that Battousai is just yummy dude, and Kenshin will turn back into his former appearance... later. teehee. Thanks again so much for reviewing.

- Aglaia102 - It is a bit of a heart-wrenching story I guess, but I suppose what keeps me from feeling too depressed about writing it is that I'm currently already feeling all lost and separated from the one I love. I suppose writing an angsty story is my way of dealing with it. Thanks for reviewing.

- Indygodusk - twiddles thumbs nervously Heh heh... yeeeaahh... maybe Iwasaki like Kaoru nervous cough. I suppose you'll just have to wait and see. Also, yes she has scars from the fire and yes someone did lie to Kennie in the beginning. Such a clever one you are Thanks!!

- Cat - Hmmm... I think this puppy is looking to be around 13 chapters, maybe. Depends on where I go with it since I have many ideas. Thanks for not minding the late chapters and reviewing.

- Bokken of Doom - Mmmmm, you've definently made my efforts worth while. I wanted that effect with the "Oyasumi" and Kaoru describing Kenshin. I'm so happy it came across. By the way, when are YOU updating "Bonds"? Hope it's soon, you drew me in only to leave me hanging you evil person.


	9. Chapter 8: The Truth About Ravens

(A/N) Heh heh... sorry for the extenuated wait. I just haven't had the time nor the ability to get around to things lately. Not that I should be making excuses or anything. I'm not going to have a long author's note like I usually do so I guess I'll just say I hope you enjoy the chapter and please review.

Also if you have time, I just started another story called Faithless and Fallen. If you have time please read it. I decided to take the original ending I had in mind for this fic and put it with another plot since I didn't think it fit as well with this one. Trust me though, the ending's going to be a nail biter. Please read it if you're willing, I'd appreciate the support.

Disclaimer: No poseo Rurouni Kenshin, ni demando satisfago tan licencia ‚l en ‚sa.

**A Bittersweet Elegy**

**Chapter 8: The Truth About Ravens**

_"The hour of departure has arrived and we go our separate ways- I to die and you to live. Which is better, God only knows."_

_-Plato_

If anyone had been left to observe the emotions flitting through the eyes of the postrate man sitting bewildered on the floor and staring at the closing door, they may have said that the hush left in the room and the inquiry in the man's face was genuine and rare enough to sell in small, closed-top vials on the marketing streets. Of course he was confused and suspicious as the boy calmly left him there in the room after proving he knew the man's secret without doubt yet still in a single, unthreatening word.

Kenshin glanced between the window where Yahiko had gazed off toward and then the door trying to make some semblance between the objects. After a moment, the trial was dropped and he settled instead to lay the heel of his broad hand against his brow and utter the first thing that came to mind. Oddly, he felt his lips curve as the distant yet familiar phrase forced its way from his vocal chords in almost a gutteral sound of dismay.

"Oro."

It caused him to smile a bittersweet, reminiscent smile as a short, chagrined laugh echoed from his mind and through his mouth until he felt he might actually break. Leave it to Yahiko to discover the schemingly obvious. While Kaoru would find herself to be delirious in her possible recognition, Yahiko would realize his characteristics for what they were rather than to what they were similar. What a bright child he was. What an annoyingly bright child he was. His departure would surely be made more inconvenient and obstructed now that his identity had been recognized by one of his former friends.

The thought made him chuckle for some unknown reason as he smoothed his hands through his hair and over his slightly unkept beard trying to find the hidden humour in the situation, and then he remembered what Yahiko had said to him.

Kaoru was trying to protect him, to keep him from the reaches of the law if anyone found out what his original intentions towards her had been. She did not know him in all technicality, and her hasty trust toward strangers unsettled his still strong, protective feelings toward her. What if he had not been himself and found her hospitality to only be a more convenient opening to kill her? Had she always been this way with strangers since they'd parted ways under less than kind circumstances? And what of this Iwasaki who seemed so fond of her during the past few days?

The thought of the man's name aroused another more formidable and imminent suspicion to his mind as he recalled Yahiko's last statement. The young statesman was currently accompanying Kaoru alone in the parlor, and, being of little familiarity with the man, he had little knowledge of his intentions with Kaoru. For all his few impressions of Iwasaki, he didn't know whether he was a kind man or a cruel womanizer. Even more infuriating was the fact that he was alone with Kaoru without supervision from a more dependable source.

"I shouldn't leave her alone with him," he reasoned to himself placing his palms against the cold, hard floor and bolstering himself to his feet. He groaned slightly when a dizziness met his erect form and placed a placating hand against his temple while the nausea passed.

Once his balance was reasserted and he felt his feet were steady against the ground, he removed the hand and glanced about the room in search of his katana which he found leaning against the far side of the room's desk. Carefully, he moved forward and seized the weapon securing it quickly to the ties of his large yukata and walked back toward the door. He hesitated a moment listening for any trace of wandering persons nearby and was relieved to find none as he slowly drew the door open and peered through to examine the wide, decorated hallway with nervous care. It was odd, he soon realized, to be slinking about the dormitories of a governmental building in a sleeping yukata to go spy on an old interest like a teenage, love-deprived ex-boyfriend. His status as a hitokiri only made the situation all the more humorous.

It took a few minutes of calculated movement and dodging before he finally found the parlor from sheer luck in the nook just behind the dining room where anyone could easily miss it in the dim lighting of the night. Soft, chatting voices carried through the crack in the doors just big enough for him to peer through into the room's deepths where a fire was lit and two figures sat with their backs facing him as they casually talked and appreciated the fire's ethereal glow. He had no speculation as to the identies of said people as the young woman laughed cheerfully no doubt at the banter of her companion and the man in turn looked to her with a kind smile on his youthful features. After little deliberation, Kenshin agreed to stay and keep watch over the pair, if not for Kaoru's safety than for his own curiosity.

The fire's heat warmed her cheeks making her skin felt temperate. Small beads of sweat began to grow slowly at her temples as anxiety and heat flushed her body. She smiled kindly at Iwasaki while the young statesman delved into an amusing story about his early teenage years, but her attention often wandered away from his amicable conversation. The dreary reflection of the fire's light against the opposite wall just beyond her host's head enticed her with nostalgic feelings and brought a foreign ache to her chest.

His warm hand grasping hers gently sprang her quickly back to reality though and she immediately directed her eyes back to his pleading stare. She felt his thumb tenderly stroke the top of her smaller hand begging her to respond to him in some way.

"Is there something wrong?" he finally asked, the concern in his voice easily masking his growing apprehension.

Kaoru hesitated but eventually shook her head, a tiny smile pulling at the edges of her mouth. At his disbelieving frown, she spoke, "I'm fine. I just keep having these odd feelings. Almost like deja vu, but not quite."

"Oh?" he responded gripping her hand more securely and encouraging her to continue.

Her smile strengthened marginally as she looked past him once more. "I just keep feeling like I'm overlooking something extremely important, something I will come to later regret."

Iwasaki's features softened, his kind smile surfacing to crinkle the corners of his eyes. "Oh, I see," he said looking down to gaze respectfully at their linked hands, his body turning the slightest of degrees to face her more fully. "And what is it you think you're overlooking?"

She glanced at him nervously, his eyes not betraying a single emotion except interest. "It's silly and I don't want to keep bothering you," she attempted to dodge, but his eyes remained fastened on her, a manifesting curiosity slowly building behind his eyes' sepia tint.

"It won't bother me, and I would never think you silly," he encouraged flashing another genuine smile at her.

His eyes betrayed nothing, only holding a depth of honesty and intrigue that made her guilt burn a bit raucously at the peak of her temple. It would hurt him a bit to know, but at least he would know. Lying had never been an option. Kaoru sighed heavily, her eyes looking down with his to their intertwined hands. "I know it's stupid and immature, and I know it's completely impossible, but lately I've just been wondering."

At her extended pause, he prompted her onward with a light squeeze between their linked hands.

"I never really knew for certain if he actually died," she whispered with a hard sigh, the sting of oncoming tears blistering at her control. "All I know is what I saw, what Sanosuke saw, and what so many officials told me." Again she paused, a crease marring her forehead as she thought. "But... if he had died, wouldn't someone more important have told me?"

"More important?" Iwasaki asked lightly, his sudden discomfort at the subject obvious. "Like who?"

"Like Yamagata-san or even Saito Hajime. I'm sure they would have been aware of his death since they were so closely linked with him."

"But when was the last time you spoke to either?" he inquired, his head lowering even more at her over stimulation of the subject.

She halted her reveries to think for a moment before answering in a quiet, sedate voice, the growing vigor she'd possessed squelching itself before it made a fool of her. "Ano... I only just recently saw Yamagata-san again. I don't think I've seen Saito for years; the last time I saw either of them was, I think, before the accident."

"Well, if you haven't seen them, how were they supposed to relate the message to you?" he reasoned wanting the subject to be over with quickly.

"I don't know," she whispered softly, the notes barely carrying to those listening. "But it still seems strange." Her sapphire gaze swept quickly upward and her grief and confusion easily bore into Iwasaki's own, tentative gaze. "No one even showed me his grave."

Silence befell the tense room preceding an invisible chill that settled stiffly in the bones of both occupants. Iwasaki's fingers continued to stroke languidly against her own offering a sorrowful sense of sympathy she eagerly welcomed. Moments later, a warm hand brushed against her coated arm sliding her further into the embrace of the man beside her as his arm came to fully wrap about her shoulders while their entwined hands carried on between them in soft, brief caresses. Kaoru had been held by a man - this way - fewer times than she could possibly forget. The odd sense of comfort offered to her through the close contact seemed befitting and, at the same time, awkward. Despite that awkwardness, she allowed herself to rest her head against his broad, strong shoulder and accepted whatever solace her companion was willing to give with a quiet, defeated sigh.

They sat like that engulfed in the dying firelight until the embers began to crackle and scream begging for more fuel to feed their potential inferno, but neither person was willing to relinquish their spot to rebuild the smoldering flames. Instead they waited until the sporadic blaze dimmed to a soft glow that barely managed to silhouette the many visages in the room against the cream plastered walls dyed grayed hues in the firelight. Finally one spoke softly, but emphatically.

"The fire's dying."

Iwasaki shifted to gaze more fully to the hearth before turning his attention back to Kaoru. "Would you like me to put another log in?"

Slowly, she shook her head settling instead to rest her cheek against his collar, her eyes inadvertently fluttering to resist her sudden need for sleep. "No, that's alright."

He nodded in acquiescence before leaning back into the plush couch, his hand allowing hers to slip momentarily from his as she delayed a short yawn. "Perhaps we should get you to bed now."

She chuckled softly and again shook her head causing her feathery hair to gently graze across various parts of his exposed neck and face. "I'm fine. I don't quite want to go to bed yet and I don't feel like writing in my journal yet either."

"You keep a journal?" he asked inquiringly, his eyes sparking with interest.

She nodded and pulled her body up a bit straighter to rest more comfortably against his completely unaware of the amber eyes that slitted further at the unintentional crime.

"Hai," she replied with a comfortable sigh. "I've been keeping one ever since my father passed away."

Iwasaki gave a soft grunt of understanding while his body began to slowly grow tenser. Now might be the best opportunity he'd have in a long while, he decided. Might as well begin before he lost it like he had so many others. The sudden rigidity of his body in response to his growing anxiety soon alerted the attention of the young woman leaned so delicately against him. He suppressed a gasp as her inquisitive, azure eyes met his and he briefly wondered how such a seemingly fragile woman could ever have been a kendo instructor.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her worry beginning to clearly show on her pretty features as she examined him. "Maybe we should retire for the night," she continued placing a cool hand against his damp forehead. "You may be coming down with a fever."

She continued to watch him anticipating his response, and he in turn marveled at her presence until the duration of it all became to much for him. He smiled genuinely, a smile that reached his eyes and conveyed all the hope and affection he could gather. She watched him somewhat perplexed by his sudden demeanor until she felt a larger hand cover hers over his forehead and carefully relieve it from its perch atop his brow. Her mouth slowly opened in confusion as her eyes followed the progression of their hands slowly coming to settle against his bent knee.

"He was a lucky man," he said slowly, his honey hued eyes grasping the image of their hands once more. "I could only hope to be as lucky as him..."

"Iwasaki-san..."

"And even if you never feel for me the way you felt for him... I'd at least die a happy man knowing I always had you at my side, knowing that you were always cared for." He risked a glance at her flushed and confused expression feeling an uninhibited twitch strain the side of his mouth as he forced his hopeful smile in place begging any remaining deity above that she would not turn him away.

Slowly, Kaoru smiled as well, her mind not quite registering what he was asking of her, yet knowing all the same that the dear man in front of her was confronting a hardship for which he needed her support. She continued to smile but remained silent quietly beckoning him onward.

Encouraged thus far by her reaction, Iwasaki released a shuddering breath and continued, his smile growing with his renewed hope. "I accept you may never love me as you loved him..."

He watched as her smile slowly fell and her eyes grew wary with concern, but still he pushed forward determined not to fall short.

"And I accept that you may never relinquish your feelings for him," he forced down a knot in his throat. "But still, I'd ask that you allow me to serve you, to love you in any way I can." He paused, his expression suddenly growing serious as his mind worked to cumulate what he desired to ask all the while examining the tell-tale exchange of emotions flittering indecisively across her face. "But in order to adore you as fully as I'd wish to, I'd have to ask something of you first..."

Kaoru's heart beat raggedly against her chest as her senses screamed at her telling her to do things she was completely unsure of. Instead of reacting just yet, she waited for him to finish.

"Would you bless me... by becoming my wife?"

Kenshin's breath choked at the bottom of his lungs, his fear biding him to keep his wits or suffer the sever consequences that would accompany an outburst. He was further startled and alarmed when moments later he heard the soft, breathy tones of Kaoru's voice quietly whisper a hesitant agreement. So this was the way it would all go, eh? Kaoru would finally have a worthy man whom she could love and he would recline himself to the invisibility of the shadows where his tainted world would never interupt her innocence. He smirked ruefully to himself as he sat back on his haunches, his eyes lingering on the glowing crack in the door. Irony always did get the best of him, no matter the circumstances. His plan from years past would finally play out as he always imagined it would.

"Isn't this the part where you burst into the room and tell her that you're alive and now she can go on loving you?"

He didn't even motion toward the voice behind him, nor did he show any acknowledgement of hearing the sarcastic words. He'd known the boy had been listening in through the window adjacent to the door the entire time, and, furthermore, he'd heard his quiet entrance into the foyer hall long ago. Another moment passed and he remained sat on his heels staring listlessly at the door.

"Well?" Yahiko urged drawing a step closer and crossing his arms angrily against his chest.

"Is Iwasaki-san a good man, Yahiko?" he asked softly with a hint of the same wistfulness Yahiko only remembered from his most vivid dreams.

His arms unfolded and he stared dumb-founded at the hunched hitokiri before answering uncertainly, "Uh, yeah, he's a good guy, but..."

"Aa." Kenshin silenced him drawing himself up to his feet as he began to silently walk past Yahiko's bewildered self.

"Oi, Kenshin," the youth stuttered as he grabbed the man's shoulder to keep him from leaving. Upon the appearance of cold, amber eyes, he relinquished his hold and took a step back. Despite the lazy aura of those eyes, they still unsettled him, and he dared not become too attached when he didn't know how Kenshin would react to his treatment. A pregnant pause perused the hall and Yahiko had to force himself to ask, "What are you doing?"

"Going to my room," he replied innocently glancing toward the staircase a few lengths down.

"That's not what I meant," the boy grated. "Aren't you gonna go tell her that you're ok now and she doesn't have to marry Iwasaki-san?"

"Iye," he said slowly glancing back once more at the parlor doors as a quiet, gentle laugh eminated from within. "Sessha learned long ago that in order to maintain someone's happiness, a distance must be kept." He began to stride slowly down the hall toward the stairs vaguely noticing as the youth hesitantly followed. "I intend to keep that distance, Yahiko," he threw over his shoulder as he began to ascend the stairs.

"But why?" he argued, his tanned features folding into a vicious snarl.

Kenshin stopped partially up the staircase to turn and look calmly down at the boy he had once seen as a little brother, maybe even a son. An odd, small smile was still fastened to his features, the effect turning from comforting to disturbing through the effect of his glowing eyes.

"Sessha," he began, the word seeming so foreign yet so familiar to his tongue and his habits, "is not worthy of her, nor has sessha ever been. I only want to ensure her happiness."

"But she was happy with you," Yahiko retorted, his voice cracking slightly as he suppressed his rising anger. "And besides, when did she ever care about your 'worthiness'?"

"Is that so." Kenshin mused a moment. "But she's just as happy now it seems, so why should I intervene now?"

Yahiko muted his coming response, his reasoning suddenly seeming petty on the grander scale."It isn't fair," he finally breathed, glancing up to see that the hitokiri had detered his unsettling gaze to the side. "I hate this."

"Aa," was the affirming statement as the red head shifted his balance from leg to leg, the tension in his wound increasing the longer he stood. "But some things should just be left alone," he added. "Let her have the steady life she deserves."

"I would," the boy began fidgeting between his feet, "but I really think it should be more about what she wants than what she deserves."

Without a valid response, Kenshin merely nodded before resuming his ascent up the silent stairs. Yahiko remained at the base, watching him limp up every odd step and remembering how he had staggered that morning as well when he had prepared to leave him and Sano to his alloted room. It was strange how severely Kenshin had changed, yet stayed so utterly Kenshin. So utterly selfless and logical that reason suddenly became the most stupid alternative. He cursed under his breath as he slowly departed from the foyer to search for his own room hoping that perhaps Sanosuke would have a solution to his dilema.

It had taken the better part of two minutes before Kenshin finally reached his room, the ache in his leg slowing his progress considerably. However when he reached the room, he wasn't quite prepared to feel the familiar ki of his employer waiting patiently in his room while a soft light shined mildly beneath the door. Tentatively, he turned the knob and opened the door a crack glancing in to confirm the sight of Katsura Matsuyo sitting calmly at the chair by his desk smoking a short cigarette.

He pushed the door open more fully before stepping inside and carefully advancing to his futon where he gently set himself down to relieve his leg of its growing stress. Mentally, he noted the questionable look on Matsuyo's face at his insolent display before he recline backward against his headrest deciding to forgo formalities all together tonight.

"I see the people upstrairs forgot to tell me a few things, eh?" he said brusquely while closing his eyes.

"Something like that," was the doubtful reply before his employer explained further. "We've all been kept in the dark so it seems. I found out after you did when I came here and saw her myself. Someone screwed something up."

A cold glare from the hitokiri lying immoblie on his futon made him clear his throat anxiously.

"I didn't know," he offered. "I've been just as left out about all this as you have. My sources all told me she was dead."

"And just who are your sources?"

"Anyone from Yamagata-san to the police force working in Tokyo." Katsura ran a hand over his tense brow to relieve a portion of the stress accumulating there before continuing. "Everyone from the local grocer in Tokyo to Fujita Goro sent me reports that she had died."

"Fujita Goro?" The familiar name sparked Kenshin's interest immediately drawing him fuller into the conversation. "You mean Saito Hajime? The Shinsengumi captain?"

"One and the same."

"You collect reports from him?" he asked and was answered with a nod. He paused a moment, recalling several images from his memory as two in particular stuck out particularly well in his head. Not only had Saito been present at the scene of the fire, the 'accident' as so many now called it... "You were the one that sent him to recruit me from jail, weren't you?"

"Hai."

"And you knew I was in jail because he had sent you reports about the fire and my arrest."

"Hai."

Kenshin stared at him from beneath the stony width of his brow, the bright amber of his eyes easily shining through the cover of his bangs. "Then I suppose the only questions I would have left are how you have affiliations with Saito," he paused before his voice dropped a chilling octave, "and how you knew to inquire reports from him... especially when it concerned me."

Katsura's stare met his own squarely, his eyes belying no immediate emotion or guilt. "Just what are you implying, Himura?"

"Nothing," he said as nonchalantly as possible, a short shrug of his shoulders following to enforce his point. "Absolutely nothing."

A short grunt answered his curt reply as Matsuyo stood and straightened his suit. "You're forgetting yourself, Himura. If it weren't for me, that neck of yours would have been lynched years ago."

"I'll thank you when I feel grateful," Kenshin icily replied, his eyes burning vaguely brighter in the dull glow of the single candle lit upon the desk.

"Be sure you do." The older man calmly paced to the door, standing stiffly at the entrance. "Certain things must be done, Himura, for the greater good of everyone. Remember that." With that parting statement, he lazily opened the door and left, signaling his departure with an intentional slam of his door.

Kenshin sighed and relaxed into the soft cushioning of his futon, the stress of the recent day expressing itself in small twitches on the muscle of his wounded leg. It had been years since the accident, and still he always laid down to sleep with a weighted weariness resting heavily upon his conscience. He'd give so much to be rid of it, but rationalization made him accept that it would linger with him until the entire mess was settled, until he felt assured that Kaoru was safe and well cared for even if it was in the protection of her potential husband's arms. Still, he would have liked to know what had happened to her, what had driven her thus far... why she would agree to marry Iwasaki when they seemed to know little about each other.

He could ask Yahiko, or even Sano since it seemed the duo already knew of his identity and were rooting for him to be triumphantly in love with Kaoru and suddenly whisk her away from Kyoto and back to Tokyo so they could all live as they once had. But their explanation would be severely biased, he reasoned weighing out his options. What he needed was an unbiased opinion, an explanation that came directly from the source itself. He thought a moment wondering how he could manage to get an interview with the clever woman without drawing her suspicions about his possible intentions. The last thing he needed was Kaoru growing skeptical of him and intentionally driving out his true identity beyond that of just a hitokiri she 'wanted to save'. He wasn't sure she would calmly settle back into her stable, new life if she realized her rurouni was not only alive and in the same housing as herself, but a regressed assassin.

Thoughts poured through his mind about what he could say to her, what he could ask her without inciting her suspicions any further. None seemed logical enough either being too direct or too vague. He rested an arm behind him to pillow his head momentarily as he looked about the room for inspiration. His vivid eyes glanced over the framed window, the heavy, wooden door, and the mahogony desk without relief as he spied a small book on the desk's edge. Inspiration suddenly hit him. Quickly sitting up he remembered vaguely a memory of the night before the accident.

_A sudden warmth hit his side to quarrel the chilly drift of the slumbering night causing him to turn toward its source. A candle was still lit within Kaoru's room, but the soft, even sound of her breathing met his keen ears through the crack in her door. He glanced about himself as though someone were watching before quietly entering the room and striding to the girl's unconscious side. Although she was not dressed in her loose sleeping attire, she still lay atop her futon curled into herself to shield her body from the incoming cold, one hand held across her neck and shoulder under her chin while the other splayed in front of her holding her writing devise absently between the pages of her disregarded journal._

_Kenshin eyed the journal warily briefly lapsing from thought to thought about the abilities a woman's journal could have. Journals had the power to drive people insane when read unwarranted, especially those written by the hands of women. Then again, he'd never known Kaoru kept a journal. He snorted shortly at his own idle thoughts before moving forward once more to crouch beside her, flinching when the boards beneath him creaked ever so slightly with his added weight._

_Reaching out one hand, he carefully moved the book away and slid her utensil simply from her small fingers. He heard her groan softly as she retracted her hand back into her body and released a slight quiver into her chin. A sullen smile met his lips as he watched her sleep, pulling her bedding's blanket up to her chin and tucking the sides slightly into her figure for warmth. Her quivering ceased almost instantly as she melted into the added weight, snuggling into its new comfort. He smiled again running a finger gently across the contour of her cheek to brush a cascade of ebony from her face and tuck it safely behind her ear. The ends of her mouth twitched slightly as the girl quietly sighed in her sleep. Quickly, Kenshin extinguished the candle and made his way silently out of the room and back onto his path toward the entrance of Kaoru's home._

Kaoru kept a journal, wrote in one every night before she went to sleep. An inadvertent quiver raced down his spine chilling him down to the very marrow of his bones and strained the lines in his jaw until he thought his teeth might shatter. Did he dare read her journal? Could he bring himself to do what he had done almost sixteen years previously knowing what it had done to him and his future before.

He released a shaking breath as he examined himself. Not only was it an invasion of privacy, but he may even learn things he would wish to never know. In all reason, he could even jeopardize his sanity like he had those sixteen years ago. Sucking in another resolute breath, he steeled himself and stole away once more into the shadowy confines of the Kyoto General Defenses building checking to make sure that the couple had remained in the parlor before silently stalking like a willowy ghost to the room he presumed to be Kaoru's.

* * *

Next Chapter:

Doves and Pigeons, Ravens and Sparrows

(A/N) Mmmm... trust me when I say ya'll are definently gonna like the next chapter, after all, it's the reason you're all still reading. Stay tuned and hopefully the next chapter will write itself more easily than all the others.


	10. Chapter 9: Doves and Pigeons, Ravens and...

(A/N) Wow... sorry I didn't update for like... 4 months. I lost my first version of this chapter out of sheer stupidity and then I had finals and school and yadda yadda, but Linay's update with "Broken Pieces" inspired me to put my heiny into gear and finish this chapter. Thanks to everyone for being patient and I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's what you've been waiting for the entire story. Sorry also for not having anymore reviewer responses, I feel kinda dumb when I do them cuz all my comments are stupid and useless.

**A Bittersweet Elegy  
Chapter 9: Doves and Pigeons, Ravens and Sparrows**

_"And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, and the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor, and my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted nevermore."_

_-Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven"_

* * *

The knob seemed made of poison, the basic design woven around the frame's edges a hypnotic insignia that wished to fray his calm and unnerve his sense of being. But it was just a door. Just a door. A door. Nothing more, maybe less. Yet it was still his threshold between relief and pain, his materialized limbo staring him squarely in the eye and refusing to back down. The metaphorical gate to heaven or hell, deliverance or damnation.

But he was already damned.

So he turned the knob and eased his way inside with as much stealth as a wounded hitokiri was capable of managing, closing the door softly behind him. Two candles were lit acutely in the sizable room, one standing on a low platform beside an unrolled futon and the other atop a western desk uniform to the one decorating his own housing. From the dim light he found the room to be immaculately clean, nearly sparkling in the playful glow of the duo candles and illuminating his barren path toward the desk as he crept over to where a sparce number of papers and thin books were settled in an organized fashion upon the smooth table.

He recognized a few English children's titles among the literature ranging from "Cinderella" to "Sleeping Beauty" and he grinned at the folklore remembering her love for foreign fairytales. His fingers absently brushed the covers moving them to reveal more juvenile fantasies. And then his fingers found a cover devoid of illustration or any form of iridescence throwing the candle's light into an eerie glow as it alighted on the cool, black leather of a hauntingly plain face, the kanji of a single name etched crudely across the plane: Kamiya Kaoru.

"Forgive me," he whispered in a breathy shudder, grasping the book tenderly and grazing his fingertips across the frayed and slightly burnt edges. Obviously this memorabilia had barely survived the fire, relishing itself in cindered scars and blackened pages.

He flipped to a page relatively early in the diary, recognizing the familiar calligraphy with ease and the annoyed manner in which it had been scribbled. There was no date, only digressed notes and text written orderly in the middle of the page bordered with comments and inscriptions. With a nostalgic smile lighting his features and dazed eyes, he read:

_-- Yahiko better be ready for tomorrow's lesson after the way he talked to me today in front of Kenshin!! How dare the little runt embarrass me by pointing out my drying underwear while Kenshin did the wash, it's just short of being mortifyingly cruel. He knows very well that I never allow Kenshin to touch my underwear. EVER! Then Megumi just had to stop by to hear all about Yahiko's underwear tirade. That brat is definently going to get a beating tomorrow in the form of Kamiya Kashin ryu ultimate brat disposal attack technique. Then I might just hit him a few more times while he's on the ground to drive the message home. I only hope Kenshin doesn't think any less of me because of this, I dunno if I could live with that. --_

Kenshin smiled, in the corner of the page was a stick figure sketch of an angry Kaoru whacking Yahiko soundly across the head. Her caricatures always were of the amusing and self righteous sort. Absently he skimmed a few pages ahead reading random lines and texts while admiring the occasional illustration, he continued in this way for a moment, taking in the heady feeling of hoarse sickness that welled at his temple, jaw, and chest.

_-- Sano actually said my cooking was edible today. I must be improving then. I'm so proud!--_

_-- The tofu dealer dropped my purchase today and refused to give me a refund or new tofu. I was so mad, but luckily, a nice old lady paid for some new tofu and gave it generously to me, empathizing with my distress. I hope I can be like that when I get old.--_

_-- Yahiko knocked me hard in the ribs today with his shinai in the middle of one of his drills. He said it was an accident and he was sorry, but it still hurts like hell. --_

_-- I don't know what I did, but Kenshin gave me the warmest smile today. I wish he would always smile at me like that. It makes me feel special and all giddy inside. --_

_-- Sano got drunk last night. It was hilarious. He decided to go to the clinic and tell Megumi that when they got married she'd have to stop calling him rooster-head. Apparently then he just stomped out and went home. Crazy. --_

_-- Kenshin's been acting strange lately. --_

Amber eyes narrowed taking in the text as though a foreign memory were threatening to burn the already tattered page the text settled against.

_-- He's gone longer during the day and I hear him creeping out at night when everyone's asleep. I wish I knew what he was doing, but the only sense I can make of the matter is to say he goes out to patrol the neighborhood. Perhaps there's a dangerous criminal on the loose here in Tokyo and he's just trying to keep his friends and neighbors safe. I hope it's something like that. I don't dare to guess about some things. --_

He lifted a long, thin eyebrow high upon his head tracing the words through his mind again trying to place the series of events to his own time frame and succeeding with only one option. He had done several odd jobs for local merchants and artisans when he was saving money for Kaoru's ring, some of whom required his services during the night for one reason or another. He hated it, but he had earned the required cash needed to buy Kaoru her ring. His fingers traced their way to the chain around his neck and the golden loop that strung itself about the chain. In a way, it had been palliatingly worth the effort. Coincidentally, he thought, this was also around the time of the fire and the series of fourteen suspicious letters sent to him by the Meiji asking his assistance. He read on, turning the page.

_-- Kenshin is still continuing to sneak off after over a week of this nonesense. I hate to admit it, but something is definently not right. I think he's found a mistress or something of the sort. It's almost too obvious what with his disappearances being so conveniently at night and occassionally during the day around the times he does his errands. All the same though, I want to wait until I'm sure before I confront him. I feel ill, both neaseous and noxious. All this worrying is tolling on my health deplorably. I think I'll have a terrible fever soon, if not tomorrow. Already I feel sick. --_

_-- It's happened: I think I'm dying. All this worrying is eating so thoroughly at me that I can hardly concentrate or move without an ache. I'm so sick I feel I'll never wake up if I go to sleep. Megumi said I was being childish and of course we began to argue. I was probably about to win but then I tried to stand so as to no longer look up at her. I felt so weak that I collapsed. Megumi didn't say anything to me after that, just told Kenshin what to do to keep me from dying and left. I heard him doing the laundry a little later and he finished after Yahiko left to go work at the Akebeko. I felt so happy at first, I thought he was going to stay home and take care of me in my time of need. No more insane disappearances during the day. But awhile later as I was finally starting to doze off into a nap, I heard footfalls beside my door and wondered if he would look in to check on me, but he didn't. Moments later I heard him open and close the gate as he left. I guess my being sick doesn't change much. I'll take a nap until he gets back. --_

That was the day of the fire, his mind cried and wept all at once as his hand unconsciously grabbed at the jewelled ring sitting idly against his breast. She thought him adulterous, too, capable of loving any random woman when he had only vied for her. To this day she was the only woman he longed for, his guilt over Tomoe remaining sedate to his new searing grief.

The sound of softly padding feet barely registered in his consciousness as they strolled casually down the hallway, a dull echo vibrating in the high vaulted ceiling. His fingers flew turning pages quickly as they cut and licked thinly at his skin that hardly felt the pain, hardly knew it was moving. Several blank pages passed until finally an inscription was made halfway through the book. The handwriting was crude, each word sketched with obvious difficulty. He read, the sound of drums thrumming in the corridor beyond.

_-- It's been two months and finally I can hold a brush again. There is so much to tell and yet I feel I needn't write it all down at once for future recollections of past horrors I'd rather forget. Then again, how do you forget something so terrible? I dream about it every night and can't help but flinch when I hear people moving outside the clinic talking in even amicable voices. It reminds me too vividly of the men that lit the fire. I believe they were after only Kenshin, trying to coax him out of the house. Thank kami for Sano, I will never be able to repay my debt to him for saving me from the blaze. If only he could have saved Kenshin too. I passed out in Sano's arms with only a momentary vision of an officer raising a sword above his head while two other men restrained his arms. That above all else is something I will never forget, even if amnesia struck this very second. I could never forget it, nor the way he struggled against them at first before seemingly just giving up. I've never known Kenshin to give up on anything, but perhaps his guilt of past sins was wearing too heavily on him._

He felt her stare piercing his back, saw the dim rays of light from the hall drift languidly against the shadows of the room, but he couldn't move. His hands fastened themselves stiffly to the journal he clasped possessively in his hands as they shook with a sort of violence virgin soldiers experience in the instant before their first battle. And he couldn't face her, though he heard her quietly step closer to him until she was in the center of the room, her movements jagged and uncertain.

_Dr. Genzai received a telegram a few days ago from Yamagata-sama expressing his greatest condolences for our trouble. He sent some statesman to come check on us and pay for my hospital bills. Apparently he's also in Tokyo for business and political matters which makes it convenient for him to help us instead of Yamagata-sama himself, whom I understand is a very busy man. He visits me often trying to eat his meals with myself and my respective family as much as he can. I think he likes our company, not being accustomed to such familiarity among people. His name is Iwasaki Akato, a close friend of Katsura Matsuyo, nephew of Kenshin's old employer Katsura Kogoro. He never told me much about him though, only that they are good friends with a few important, conflicting views. He also said that there was a wrong Katsura had made that he felt he needed to right. It's touching how adament he feels about it and what passion he uses to express his plight. Tomorrow Iwasaki-san plans to take me out of the clinic for the first time and take me on a carriage ride around the city with Megumi's supervision. I'm so excited! --_

"Kiyosato-san?" she asked curiously, a small edge of fear tinging her voice as she spoke.

He shook his head slightly so that his hair swept lightly across the plain of his back before silently settling.

"Kiyosato-san," she began again, courage suddenly forcing her to be more bold. "What are you doing in my room?"

At first he didn't answer, opting instead to stare dazedly at the words etched so clearly on the open page. He also said that there was a wrong Katsura had made that he felt he needed to right. When he heard her take another hesitant step forward, he spoke, "They lied to me." His voice shook with suppressed emotion as his eyes flew once more across the page rereading certain text until it was singed into his memory like an omen he prayed to be false. "They lied to me, and I believed them so easily, so surely."

Behind him, he heard her shuffle nervously on her good foot at a loss of what to do or say.

"They told me you were dead," he breathed, each syllable barely containing its consonants causing Kaoru to strain to hear him. He slammed the book closed nearly breaking it between his hands as they continued to shake. The warmth of her stare penetrated him as she stood still, perplexed by his words and in awe of the situation.

"They told me you died." His throat constricted and he felt his bloodlust fighting for control as his inhibitions fought valliantly to keep his calmer side in control. "They told me you died in that goddamned fire!!" He flung his body sideways throwing the book at the opposite wall with a vehemence rarely achieved by men of sound minds. The book slammed headlong into the barrier, splintering at the binding and fluttering to the ground with little hesitation leaving a fair sized dent in its wake.

And then he stood there, so quiet and serene that his heaving breaths hardly countered his image.

When he heard her shift uncomfortable between her feet, he continued, "It's my fault you got sick, too. It was always my fault everytime something went wrong one way or another no matter how much I wished to protect you and my friends."

He felt her scan his silhouette briefly, eyes trying desperately trying to identify his odd profile in the scarce light. "Who are you?"

Glancing at her, his chin twisted against his chest so that only his vibrant, amber eyes shone against his face. "I'm the ghost of the man I once was, once tried to be."

Kaoru straightened herself under his gaze, his cryptic words offering little reason to her befuddled mind and instincts. She'd seen those eyes before, whether in a dream or nightmare she didn't know, but the familiarity struck her with a cold chill numbing her nerves slightly. She asked again, her voice offering a forceful tone, "Who are you?"

"Don't-"

"Who are you!!" she screamed at him, her nerves coming to life once more as the extremity of the situation dazed her to a point of flightiness.

"Kaoru-dono, please-"

"Don't say that! Don't you dare ever call me that!!" she yelled, her limbs shaking and her mind racing as she braced her hands against her ears to block out his voice.

His tone became pleading, his slight form standing against the desk for support. "Sessha only wants-"

"Stop it!!" she cried out falling to the floor in desperation, her knees no longer able to hold her up as she covered her face and wept. When it seemed he had relented at the sight of her tears, she asked, "Why?"

He had no answer, merely stared acutely at her sad face while she cried into the palms of her hands. With a heavy conscience, he stepped over to her, his movements slow and calculated as he carefully stooped down beside her sitting cautiously on his knees. She failed to respond only seemingly crying harder into the comfort of her hands, her slumped, defeated posture shivering from the force of her feelings. Reaching out solicitously, he brushed a stray length of hair back behind her ear only to find to his dismay that it drifted quite adamently out of place once more. He obliged, this time securing it with his fingers, the tips caressing behind her ear in a bittersweet gesture and he allowed them to linger.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, the heat of his breath burning her hands so that they fell away from the sanctuary of her face to reveal swollen, red eyes not yet rid of tears. "This wasn't what I wanted at all. Not for you, never for you."

Kaoru stared at him, her blue depths stained an odd purple hue by her harsh weeping. "Why are you doing this to me? You're dead."

"I know," he sighed, the defeat in his tone obvious. "I know."

She sniffled, releasing a sigh of her own. Tentatively, she raised a hand leaning it towards his face and slowly allowing it to rest against his cheek, her thumb running along the smooth, trimmed hairs that lay there until she felt the long outline of a vertical and horizontal scar brush against her skin. He cupped her hand leaning his face into the warmth it offered and repressing the strength of his golden orbs behind the veil of his lids, giving her a moment's solace as she cautiously scooted closer to him, her eyes all the while studying each feature of his face her mind had learned so painstakingly long ago.

It was him, her mind screamed glancing over the defined cheekbones, long nose, and thin eyebrows only to rest on the smooth, delicate lips slightly parted as he breathed and took in her comfortable presence. Warily, she retrieved her hand from his grasp, opting instead to wrap it around his waist as she fell into him, her fatigue forgetting propriety as she pressed herself against him nearly sitting in his lap. Almost instantly, his arms slid about her holding her close as he leaned his head upon hers, taking in the sweet floral scent of her hair and the warmth of her aura. He leaned against the desk behind him, taking her unprotesting form with him as he felt the front of his gi become slowly saturated with renewed tears.

And he let her cry, even as the sound of hard footsteps raced up the stairs and down the hallway throwing open the door to see the pair waiting in their intimate embrace, her small hands desperately clutching at him, and his arms encircling her waist tenderly. She cried all the harder when she heard Iwasaki gently call her name from the doorway, baffled by the string of events as he found the source of her distress to be no more than a supposed lover's quarrel.

But he had proposed to her not more than an hour ago, and she in turn had accepted. So why was their wayward guest holding her so dearly in his arms and comforting her the way he, her fiancee should? He couldn't speak he was so lost, and not once did she look up at him, even glance in his direction as she cried solemnly into the rurouni's shoulder. A small pang echoed against his chest as he felt his throat constrict and a dull pain gather at his clenched jaw.

"Kao-chan?" he softly gestured, his tone imploring.

She only seemed to cry harder at the sound of his voice, her hands tightening in the folds of the red-head's gi and a lock of his hair that had meanwhile been placed in her grasp.

"Kaoru?"

"Just go away," she whispered, her voice barely audible to her fiancee whom stood entreatingly in the doorway with three guards he had acquired on his rush to her room upon the sound of her shouting standing anxiously behind him.

"But-"

"Go away!!" she screamed into Kenshin's chest feeling his arms tighten around her at her sudden outburst.

Iwasaki looked at her dubiously, the shock in his expression evident as his eyes looked to Kenshin pleadingly unable to understand what the cause of her obvious pain could possibly be. "Kiyosato-san?"

He sighed. "I'm afraid I have deceived you, Iwasaki-san. My name is not Kiyosato Akira." He sighed hearing the short catch in the other man's breath thoroughly. "My name is Himura Kenshin, better known by most as Hitokiri Battousai."

The guards behind Iwasaki instantly tensed, stepping in front of the stateman to protect him from the impending danger, but their efforts were quickly brushed away when their charge shoved them unceremoniosly aside to stare astounded at the assassin, his bewilderment obvious.

"That's impossible," he denied his brow furrowing as he stared at the shorter man still embracing his fiance.

"Apparently not," Kenshin retorted, the malice in his voice evident.

"But Katsura-san..." He looked away turning about as his eyes flew across the room searching for an answer. "Katsura-san told me they executed you years ago." He stared into the cold eyes he never thought he'd see settled upon him in a way many deceased men had seen long before him. "He told me that the government ordained it. That's why I came to see Kaoru-can that first time; to make sure that your friends were well cared for." He peered mournfully down at the girl in the other man's arms, her whimpers slowly giving way to deep, even breaths. "I accidentally fell in love with her though."

"It seems that Katsura has deceived us all like little, idiotic pawns," Kenshin seethed, holding Kaoru's waist firmly. His eyes softened as he gazed upon her face, her eyes closed peacefully and her breathing slow, deep in sleep. When he spoke again, his tone was controlled, humbled by the information he had recently acquired. "I must thank you, however, for taking such good care of her and my friends. I know they appreciate it as well."

"It was my honour to do so," Iwasaki responded, his tone sincere as he gazed jealously down at the sleeping woman held securely in the other man's arms. "They have been good to me in turn."

Kenshin nodded. "I would think so. They're good people, all of them."

"I know."

"Will you do me a favor then, Iwasaki-san?" he asked, his eyes almost beseeching in their consternation. At the other's nod of acceptance he continued with a quiet sigh to himself. "Take care of them for me. They've all had hard lives. Yahiko, Sano, Megumi... Kaoru. They've earned a good life, by all means. Please give it to them, I never could."

"Of course, I would do it even if you never asked me."

Standing with a grace Iwasaki instantly envied, the small rurouni nodded to the futon in the corner and the young man complacently fetched it, unrolling it in the middle of the room and waited for Kenshin to gently place his precious cargo thereupon, tucking her in tenderly so that only her face was visible in the dim, glowing light. Together the two men padded quietly out the room, closing the door with a soft click.

"I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon after I've dealt properly with Katsura," Kenshin stated once the door was closed and the two were left to themselves.

"But why? Kaoru-san will be devastated to hear of you doing such a thing. For over two years she's thought you were dead and now that you've suddenly reappeared into her life you're going to disappear again? I don't understand it."

"She'll have a better life here with you than she ever would with me. Make her a good husband, ok?" he said squeezing the younger man's shoulder before walking briskly past him toward his own room, the limp in his injured leg less obvious in his stride.

"Why are you doing this?" Iwasaki asked, the wonder in his voice showing through his eyes. "You could be with her again, and you're willing to just give it all away. I don't understand, I thought you loved her."

"Yes, I love her. Very deeply in fact. That's why I am willing to recognize my own unworthiness of her," he sighed looking away as his voice dropped a doleful note. "And that's why I'm willing to realize your worthiness."

"I know she'll accept you whether you think yourself worthy or not. It's you she wants, not me."

"It sounds almost as though you don't want her anymore," Kenshin jested peering stiltedly over his shoulder.

"I could say the same of you," Iwasaki smiled before taking a serious expression once more. "Why are you really doing this?"

Kenshin stared at the wall a minute collecting his thoughts, not sure whether to reveal his ulterior motives or not to this practical stranger. "She lied to you. That day you found us both on the road outside the General Defenses Building. I wasn't her savior, I was the hitokiri trying to kill her. Katsura ordered me to, but I hadn't known it was her until I saw her. Then I thought she was a ghost come to mock me. I almost did kill her, and I can't forgive that. Even when I saw and recognized her, I was willing to kill her."

"But your leg-"

"I hit my leg with my own sword in a moment of confusion when I felt I couldn't kill her. The swing was supposed to be for her, but I hit my leg instead trying to avoid her. Thank whatever deity that reigns above I didn't hit her, or I think the mayhem in this country would have increased tenfold."

Iwasaki stared dumbly at him, grasping for words he wasn't aware he was mumbling. Then finally: "That fucking sonofabitch," he hissed suppressing his own sudden rage. "I'll wring his bloody neck for doing such a thing."

"Please, leave that to me," Kenshin unconsciously smirked watching the other dig his fingers angrily into his hair and scalp.

"How could he? Why would he?" he questioned the air, turning and leaning heavily against the wall, his face buried deep in his hands out of frustration. "He knew that I loved her, that I was planning on proposing when she arrived this week."

"Katsura mentioned to me that he wasn't even aware she was alive," Kenshin brooded, his gaze shifted to a window far at the end of the hall. "He said that somebody screwed something up in the information department, but I don't think that's really what he means."

Iwasaki stood still, a transfixion on his face that introduced the formation of a sudden epiphany. "I think I finally understand now," he quietly said turning his gaze to his feet. "After all these years I thought...but that fire wasn't really meant for you at all."

"I know," Kenshin responded nonchalantly, his expression stoic and unyielding.

"It was meant for her." He paused, his fists clenching and unclenching as his jaw ground itself tensely between his teeth. "It hadn't been an accident, he really did mean to kill her. I thought it was just a mistake she was inside the house at the time. I never even mentioned her by name to him when he asked about your friends."

Kenshin nodded stiffly.

Iwasaki sighed leaning his tall, weary body against the wall and slowly slidding down to the floor in a defeated display. "I'm a damned fool. I never even asked him who the new hitokiri he hired was. A damned fool indeed."

"Who were the men that were supposed to escorted Kaoru-dono here?" Kenshin suddenly asked, his eyes slitting minimally with a sudden realization.

"I dunno," Iwasaki mumbled, his head leaning into his hands on the floor. "Just policemen from Tokyo I think."

"Do you think they might have been Fujita Goro's officers?"

A dumb look passed the younger man's face as he looked up at Kenshin with wide, confused eyes. "Yes, I think they probably were."

"And you told him that you you planned to propose to Kaoru-dono."

"I never really talked about her much to him, only that there was a girl I planned to marry being escorted up to Kyoto from Tokyo this week."

"He told me to kill those men quietly so as not to disturb 'the woman', as he so put it, travelling with them." He paused thinking. "But Katsura also mentioned that if she was to become alerted to the activities, to kill her. Obviously she saw me."

"I don't understand," Iwasaki mumbled squinting oddly at the calculating visage of the man in front of him.

"The men I killed coming here were the men at the fire, particularly the ones involved in causing the mess." He spun on his heel looking around to see if anyone was coming or possibly listening before continuing, "Lately I've been assassinating rather low profile and standard people opposed to the various statesmen and popular leaders I'm ordinarily assigned. He wouldn't normally employ people so high up to help him with disposing of a single girl though. It's too risky." He turned, giving Iwasaki a pointed look, the gold encircling his eyes seeming to dance and burn with anger. "Katsura's slowly killing everyone off involved with the so called 'accident'."

"Then why would he tell you not to kill her as well?" the statesman asked trying desperately to understand the complex nature of the crime.

"For one you told him you wanted to marry this girl and as your friend he probably wanted to honor that." He glanced out the window, his mind churning with ideas. "It would also seem a bit suspicious, most assassins don't bother with women even if they're seen commiting the crime. But the beauty of it is: he thought she wasn't in the least involved with the fire and was completely dumb to it all. Why kill an innocent after all?"

Iwasaki nodded, understanding aching at the base of his skull as he mulled over everything he'd been told.

"I can't believe Katsura would do such a thing," he said, his head slumped forward against his shoulders. "I've always looked up to like an uncle almost. It's inconceivable to me." He sighed brushing a hand stiffly over his face to wipe the small collection of perspiration from his brow. "What do you propose we do, Himura-san?"

"He's bound to come after her again, probably with a different assassin. She knows too much and she's a risk for him to keep alive. He's probably still counting on my being confused about everything to be able to get to her while keeping me as his 'prized assassin'," he stated, spitting out the last bit with palpable disgust.

"Yes, but what do we do about it?"

Kenshin glanced down at Iwasaki sitting forlornly at his feet. The edges of his small mouth twisted and his eyes glinted with a deviousness hell itself envied. When he spoke, his voice was so sweetly smooth it seemed he was crooning to a grieving child.

"We wait, Iwasaki. We wait."

* * *

_**Next Chapter:**_

_**As Easy as Life**_

(A/N) I estimate one, maybe two more chapter before this baby is finished and Katsura Matsuyo is definently in for some punishment I think. Hopefully my next update will be realtively soon; otherwise, please bear with me and love me until I can kick myself hard enough to finish it. Thanks and please **_REVIEW!!_**

Instead of doing another RK fic right away (I think I'm just gonna delete Faithless and Fallen since I'm too bored with it, it's kinda been done alot), I'm gonna do a fic about Troy. I'm in love with Hector now, not just Eric Bana as Hector, but Hector in general. I've seen the movie three times just to watch him and I cried the last time when he died. Also Josh Groban sings the theme song and I love him, so the movie rocks on all levels for me. If you liked the movie or whatever, please look out for my new fic, I have an idea that's a bit different from what everyone else is doing.


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